BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Imposing additional tariffs on Chinese imports is a wrong remedy for U.S. trade deficit with China and a counterproductive move that affects U.S. economy, Chinese experts have said.
Hong Junjie, Dean of School of International Trade and Economics at the University of International Business and Economics, noted that one of the reasons for the decision to impose tariffs on Chinese imports is the U.S. trade deficit with China.
But the trade deficit should not be managed with such moves as the root causes of the deficit lie in the U.S. economy itself, he added.
The U.S. trade deficit with China is exaggerated by U.S. and the trade deficit cannot be reduced by imposing tariffs, Hong Junjie told Xinhuanet.
He explained the U.S. trade deficit with China is a result of its imbalanced industrial structure. Thus trying to manage deficit by simply imposing tariffs is almost impossible, he added.
"From a historical perspective, trade dispute will only expand the deficit. The government cannot distort the market and it must respect the law of economics,” he added.
Cui Fan, Professor of School of International Trade and Economics at the University of International Business and Economics, also agreed that the main cause of U.S. trade deficit is related to global value chain.
And trade deficit can not be used as an excuse for U.S. recent moves, he noted.
China imports intermediate products from other countries and exports the assembled final products to U.S., and therefore lots of the benefits are shared by other countries, he explained.
He said if trade dispute continues, American companies would also suffer.
The experts both warn that the moves threaten multilateral trading system.
The moves ignore the law of economy and market, challenge the multilateralism supported by most countries and threaten the multilateral trading system, they said.
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday threatened to slap tariff on 100 billion U.S. dollars worth of imports from China.
Earlier, the U.S. Trade Representative office proposed imposing an additional 25 percent tariff on 50 billion dollars worth of imports from China.
