China respects all parties resolving economic and trade differences with the United States through consultation on an equal footing, but it will firmly oppose any party striking a deal at China’s expense, its Commerce Ministry said on Monday.
China “will take countermeasures in a resolute and reciprocal manner” if any country sought such deals, a ministry spokesperson said, addressing news about the Trump administration preparing to pressure other countries to limit trade with China in exchange for tariff exemptions from the United States.
What are you talking about? The USA is quite literally the biggest producer and exporter of agricultural goods in the world and don‘t even get me started on patents and digital services. They are by far the richest country on earth. The only thing China has going for it here is recklessness towards their own people because believe it or not, there are worse places to be than the USA right now. Hard to comprehend, but sadly true.
Agriculture probably hurts a little. China could not care less about American digital services ( they largely banned them anyway) and if it comes down to it, they can totally ignore patent protection. They do have some issues with actual chip design and manufacturing, though that will likely see them improve if they have to.
Don’t know that China is a better place to be for the citizenry or anything, but the government and business leaders are in a better supported position than American counterparts in an economic split.
It might have been one thing if the US had continued to fixate on China and maybe isolate China, but he is simultaneously screwing with everyone in the world and tarnishing our image as comparatively “good guys” on human rights undermines our position. China may still be viewed as a bad actor, but our bad behavior might make them the lesser of the few evils.