MICHAEL KOUNTOURIS/FOR CHINA DAILY

The 21st century has witnessed unprecedented changes that have strengthened the trends of economic globalization, trade liberalization, service facilitation, informatization, digitalization, and the use of artificial intelligence. As the world's two largest economies, the United States and China have played important roles in shaping these trends.

In 2017, the combined GDP of China and the US (purchasing power parity in 2011 international dollar terms) accounted for 33.4 percent of the world total, with China's share being 18.2 percent and the US' 15.2 percent. The two countries' share of trade was 22.6 percent of the world total, with China accounting for 11.5 percent and the US 11.1 percent. As for the proportion of patent applications by their citizens, the two countries accounted for 71.3 percent of the world total, with China's share being 57.7 percent and the US' 13.6 percent.

Which shows cooperation between the two countries benefits not only their combined population of more than 1.7 billion, but also people in the rest of the world. And confrontation between them would spell disaster for their peoples as well those in the rest of the world.

Dialogue helped China and US cope with crisis

In 2008, the subprime mortgage crisis that started in the US quickly escalated into a global financial crisis, prompting Chinese and US leaders to cooperate at a strategic level, and establish cooperative mechanisms including those for "economic and strategic dialogue". The mechanisms and dialogues helped the two sides to better cope with the global financial crisis and prevented it from developing into another Great Depression. Indeed, it was a successful case of strategic cooperation between the two sides, and an important factor that helped the world overcome the financial crisis.

Yet the US administration has chosen to change tack, and resorted to unilateralism and trade protectionism, which go against the trend of globalization and trade liberalization. Taking a position directly opposite to that of the preceding US administrations and abandoning the Sino-US strategic dialogue mechanism, the incumbent US administration has pursued an "America first" policy, which has undermined international trade and lowered global economic growth. As a result, the US has become the biggest source of uncertainty for the world economy.

A closer study shows the subprime mortgage crisis and consequently the global financial crisis in 2008 point to a dangerous trend: the US has been the root cause of a global economic crisis every 10 years or so.

US foreign policy behind global uncertainty

If the cause of the global financial crisis can be traced to the serious mistakes in the US' domestic economic policy, the current global uncertainty can be attributed to the serious flaws in the US' foreign policy, which have harmed normal trade and economic relations between the US and China.

According to Financial Times columnist Martin Wolf, the US-China trade conflict challenges the world. True, by launching a trade war, the US has challenged China. But it would be more appropriate to say the US has challenged the world, which could, in the long run, derail globalization and trade liberalization.

That there is global concern over the China-US trade frictions and its impact on the global economy raises a pertinent question: "What is the essence of the US-China trade dispute?"

The first factor is the difference in China's win-win policy and the US' hegemonic policy. China has always advocated fair cooperation and mutual benefit. But Washington insists on following an "America first" policy by implementing unilateral and protectionist measures against its trading partners, even against its allies.

China's openness vs US protectionism

There is also a huge difference between China's openness and the US' isolationism.

China insists upon trade liberalization and is continuously lowering its tariff rates. According to the World Bank report on tariff and trade barriers (2017), China's weighted average tariff rate dropped to 3.83 percent, lower than the world average of 4.57 percent. In 2018, China further lowered import tariffs on 1,585 taxable items. Also, its total tariff level dropped from 9.8 percent in 2017 to 7.5 percent in 2018. And it will continue to reduce tariffs and take measures to further open up its domestic market.

By contrast, the US has raised the effective tariff rate on products from its largest source of imports, China. According to Peterson Institute for International Economics' data, the increase in the tariff rate, from less than 1 percent in 2017 to 25 percent now is having a damaging impact on the US' 325 million consumers.

According to a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the latest round of US tariffs on Chinese imports will cost the American economy $106 billion a year, which is equivalent to an average loss of $831 per ordinary American family.

At the same time, the tariffs also compromise US manufacturing and service sectors. A survey by US market research company Coresight Research shows 8,139 retailers went out of business in 2017, 5,864 in 2018, more than 6,400 so far in 2019, and 12,000 stores are likely to close down by the end of the year. This is a typical "boomerang effect", wherein trying to attack the other side, the blow comes back to hurt you, and an illustration of the Chinese saying that "harming others is more harmful to yourself".

Take your pick between cooperation and conflict

Besides, there is a great difference between China's inclusive and the US' exclusive policies. China has always advocated "cooperation and negotiation", while the US seems hell-bent on treading the path of "conflict and confrontation", as it has not only launched military wars but also triggered trade and technological wars.

Thanks to globalization and regional integration, a global community has been gradually formed, deeply intertwining our lives and leading us toward a common future. On the other hand, the pursuit of hegemony in today's world will lead us to a road that is not only forbidden but also evil. Only by adhering to win-win cooperation can we find a road that leads to a brighter future and common prosperity.

The author is dean of the Institute for Contemporary China Studies and a professor at the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University. The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.