Trade surplus with the US is a result of market factors, says Chinese ambassador.
Chinese Ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, said Wednesday (18) in an article published in USA Today that China has never deliberately sought a trade surplus with the country; his article was published amid the trade dispute between the two countries.
247, with Diário do Povo - In an article published in USA Today, Cui said that China's trade surplus, the issue at the center of US criticism of the Asian country, was not intentionally manufactured, since "trade flows are determined by the market."
Furthermore, "the fact that the United States government controls high-tech exports to China makes the deficit even greater," Cui indicated.
"Deficits are not the product of malicious intent, nor are they necessarily a bad thing for an economy," he explained.
"Generally, they result from how resources are allocated in a globalized economy and are natural reflections of the global value chain," he said. "In addition to some structural reasons, such as the low savings rate and high consumption rates that the US maintains, the role of the US dollar as an international reserve currency inevitably leads to trade deficits."
But a deficit doesn't mean the U.S. is losing out, Cui indicated. "On the contrary, thanks to trade with China, American families have access to more high-quality products at lower costs."
As an example, he said that in 2015 alone, prices in the US fell by up to 1,5% thanks to trade with China, saving an average family $850.
.