From 24 to 27 October, the two sides will lead the delegation to Malaysia for economic and trade consultations, but the United States first invited before the negotiations had not officially begun.
The United States has come up with a so-called "packaging plan" and wants to set a negotiation framework in advance. The conditions they offer seem to be "sincere", but they are actually full of calculations.
The US said that if China is willing to cooperate in this trade negotiation, The United States can consider relaxing the "fentanyl tax" imposed on Chinese products.
But the premise is that China must do two things: One is to buy a large number of soybeans accumulated by American farmers; The second is to relax restrictions on rare earth exports.
On the surface, it looks like a deal, but in fact, the United States wants to use negotiations to solve its domestic troubles. In response, my country's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun responded to this as early as the 20th.
He said tariff wars and trade wars are not in the interests of either party, and the two sides should resolve the issues on a consultative basis on the basis of equality, respect and reciprocity.
This response not only simply rejects the U.S. offer, but also sends a signal to the world that the rules of the Sino-U.S. negotiations are changing.
In the past, the United States used to lower the price and set the tone before negotiations, so that the other party could follow its rhythm; China no longer accepts this model.
My family is in chaos, but they still want to use China as a scapegoat
More importantly, the "three cards" played by the United States, in fact, are not hard at all, and are still the rubbish left by themselves.
Let's start with the so-called "fentanyl tax". Trump has imposed a 20% tariff on Chinese Fentanyl and a 25% tariff on Mexican and Canadian Fentanyl on the grounds that “these countries are causing a flood of American drugs.”
It sounds like it is fighting crime, and in fact it is entirely throwing the pot, and the Fentanyl problem in the United States is not at all abroad, but at home.
For decades, Americans have abused prescription drugs and regulatory vulnerabilities. In order to make money, pharmaceutical groups desperately sell painkillers, and doctors prescribe drugs indiscriminately. As a result, thousands of people become addicted to drugs.
The real culprit is America’s own system and capital greed, not China’s pharmaceutical companies, but American politicians don’t dare to blame their own pharmaceutical consortium, so look for other countries as targets.
In this way, domestic public opinion is easy to fool, and the votes can be stabilized, but the problem has not been solved at all.
Look at the soybeans issue, it is a failed drama, after the trade war broke out, The United States imposed tariffs on China, China naturally countered, and soybean exports fell instantly.
American farmers have become the biggest victims. The warehouses are piled with beans that cannot be sold. The government has to spend money in subsidies and make up tens of billions of dollars, but it cannot save the China market.
U.S. agriculture relies on exports for its livelihood, especially China, the largest buyer. But while the U.S. government wants China to "buy more", it is also engaging in "decoupling", "blockade" and "sanctions."
Both wanting to make money and wanting to pressure, such a logic does not work at all, contrary to China, has long been adjusting the import structure, in recent years, China purchases soybeans from Brazil, Argentina and other countries, and also promotes domestic cultivation and expansion of production.
The current supply has long been diversified and is no longer dependent on the United States. In other words, if the United States uses soybeans as a bargaining chip, it will no longer be effective. China is not afraid of you being stuck, nor does it want your beans.
In September this year, China did not import soybeans from the United States. This is the first time since November 2018 that China's soybean imports from the United States have dropped to zero.
China sets rules
And the rare-earth issue in the U.S. mouth, more to the nose, this time the rare-earth issue, in fact, is not only a dispute at the trade level, but a "rule redefinition" of the Sino-U.S. relationship.
The U.S. is accustomed to looking at the world with “trade thinking” – even as a strategic resource, it must be used to code. But China’s logic is completely different.
As is well known, rare earth is not an ordinary commodity, it has an important role in the fields of military industry, chemistry, new energy, etc., China's rare earth reserves account for about 48.9% of the global total reserves, stable in the world.
Among them, the proportion of medium-sized rare earth reserves is higher, with 88% of the world's medium-sized rare earth resources concentrated in China. In addition, China has an absolute advantage in the fields of rare-earth processing and metallurgy, with 90% of the world's rare-earth production capacity concentrated in China.
This is both an advantage and a responsibility, and the announcement of the Ministry of Commerce of China on October 9 to control the export of rare-earth and rare-earth technologies, is not to cheat, not to retaliate.
But in order to safeguard national security and interests and fulfill international obligations such as non-proliferation, At the same time, it ensures the safety and stability of the global rare earth industry chain and supply chain.
The U.S. is still using the thinking of decades ago that it wanted to negotiate in exchange for rare-earth supply rights, and even delusions to put pressure on the so-called "Fentanyl tax," which is not working today.
China's Ministry of Commerce has repeatedly pointed out: fight, join the end, talk, the door is open. China now no longer accepts the passive model of negotiation, but makes it clear that negotiations must have a bottom line and be equal.
Whoever wants to come to the table, first understand the rules, the rules are not meant by the United States, but to be redefined on the basis of respect and power.