Photo: VCG

The US administration has claimed the trade agreement with China cannot be a 50-50 pact, because China has profited at the United States' expenses for too long, and China has been a free rider since it entered the World Trade Organization in 2001. Guangming Daily comments:

China's accession to the WTO was not a gift from the United States. And while it undoubtedly helped promote the country's economic growth, reform and opening-up have been the main driver.

It is fair to say that without China, US enterprises could not have developed in a fast and stable manner since 2001. The benefits the US secured in its trade with China far outweigh those China has gained, not to mention the environmental pollution that the US businesses have exported to China.

All deals between China and the US should be based on market laws and the free will of both sides. This will ensure the sustainability of bilateral trade relations. It is ridiculous for some US politicians to claim that China has taken advantage of the US for decades.

Statistics of the US government show that US companies' overseas assets stock increased by 23.7 percent from 2009 to 2016. But their assets stock in China increased 111.4 percent over the same period. The average return rate on US enterprises' assets in foreign markets was 4.37 percent in 2016, while the average return rate on US enterprises' assets in China was 6.45 percent.

Meanwhile, data released by relevant companies indicate that in 2018, 19.5 percent of Apple's operating revenue came from China, and the figure is 13 percent for Boeing and 40 percent for General Motors. Among the US top 10 chip companies, the one that has the weakest connections with China exported 23 percent of its products to Chinese companies, and the figure was about 50 to 80 percent for most other companies.

Statistics also show there is no necessary correlation between the rise of US' trade deficit and its unemployment rate. In the 1990s when the US trade deficit increased fast, its unemployment rate remained stable. And in 2017 and 2018, when the US trade deficit increased by $60.23 billion and $83.01 billion respectively the unemployment rate decreased to a new low in 49 years.

Normal trade does not kill jobs. It is the US ban on high-tech exports that has distorted its trade relations with China.