IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/chinae/v26y2018i5p62-82.html

Can the Trading System Survive US–China Trade Friction?

Author

Listed:
  • Robert Z. Lawrence

Abstract

Donald Trump has sought to change US trading relationships by raising protection at home and taxing the offshore activities of US companies abroad. These measures, which both use and violate trade rules, have provoked retaliation from other countries. Such friction has restricted and distorted trade and investment, undermined the rules‐based trading system and perhaps permanently damaged global value chains that depend on stable rules for market access. Trump has justified some of his measures as a response to China's alleged unfair practices and indeed, China has adopted industrial and technology policies that are formally neutral between domestic and foreign firms but in practice have led foreign firms to complain about discriminatory practices that favor Chinese firms. The US friction with China is unfortunate because instead of trying to bully China into submission in a tariff war, the US could have dealt with many of its concerns more effectively by cooperating with other countries and taking actions that are consistent with maintaining the rules‐based system. While the US has undermined its leadership role, the overall damage to the trading system could still be limited if other countries, especially China, take actions that sustain and strengthen it.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Z. Lawrence, 2018. "Can the Trading System Survive US–China Trade Friction?," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 26(5), pages 62-82, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:chinae:v:26:y:2018:i:5:p:62-82
    DOI: 10.1111/cwe.12256
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/cwe.12256
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/cwe.12256?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lawrence Edwards & Robert Z. Lawrence, 2013. "Rising Tide: Is Growth in Emerging Economies Good for the United States?," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 5003, April.
    2. Justin R. Pierce & Peter K. Schott, 2016. "The Surprisingly Swift Decline of US Manufacturing Employment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(7), pages 1632-1662, July.
    3. David H. Autor & David Dorn & Gordon H. Hanson, 2016. "The China Shock: Learning from Labor-Market Adjustment to Large Changes in Trade," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 205-240, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ma, Yongfan & Hu, Xingcun, 2024. "Shadow banking and SME investment: Evidence from China's new asset management regulations," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 332-349.
    2. Zhuo Chen & Bo Yan, 2022. "The impact of trade policy on soybean futures in China," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(4), pages 1152-1163, June.
    3. Zhang, Yuhan & Chang, Cheng, 2021. "Modeling the US-China Trade Conflict: A Utility Theory Approach," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 5(2), pages 84-88.
    4. Liu, Li-Jing & Creutzig, Felix & Yao, Yun-Fei & Wei, Yi-Ming & Liang, Qiao-Mei, 2020. "Environmental and economic impacts of trade barriers: The example of China–US trade friction," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    5. Neha B. Upadhayay, 2020. "Are only men fighting trade wars? Empirical evidence from the Temporary Trade Barriers (TTB) data," Erudite Working Paper 2020-03, Erudite.
    6. Neha Bhardwaj Upadhayay, 2020. "Uncovering the proliferation of contingent protection through channels of retaliation, gender and development assistance," Erudite Ph.D Dissertations, Erudite, number ph20-02 edited by Julie Lochard & Catherine Bros, December.
    7. Ruoxi Yu & Xingneng Xia & Tao Huang & Sheng Zhang & Wenguang Zhou, 2024. "Has the Establishment of High-Tech Zones Improved Urban Economic Resilience? Evidence from Prefecture-Level Cities in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-24, February.
    8. Jiangyun Li & Mingbao Chen, 2023. "Spatiotemporal Evolution and Influencing Factors of Social-Ecological System Vulnerability in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macau Greater Bay Area," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-15, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Komlos, John & Schubert, Hermann, 2019. "Les origines du triomphe de Donald Trump," Revue de la Régulation - Capitalisme, institutions, pouvoirs, Association Recherche et Régulation, vol. 26.
    2. Yu, Chan, 2023. "The role of immigrants in the United States labor market and Chinese import competition," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    3. Kondo, Illenin O., 2018. "Trade-induced displacements and local labor market adjustments in the U.S," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 180-202.
    4. Arni, Patrick & Egger, Peter & Erhardt, Katharina & Gubler, Matthias & Sauré, Philip, 2024. "Heterogeneous Impacts of Trade Shocks on Workers," IZA Discussion Papers 16895, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Brandt, Loren & Lim, Kevin, 2024. "Opening up in the 21st century: A quantitative accounting of Chinese export growth," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    6. Autor, David & Dorn, David & Hanson, Gordon & Majlesi, Kaveh, 2016. "A Note on the Effect of Rising Trade Exposure on the 2016 Presidential Election," MPRA Paper 112889, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 06 Jan 2017.
    7. Jiang, Zhe (Jasmine), 2023. "‘Multinational Firms’ Sourcing Decisions and Wage Inequality: A Dynamic Analysis," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    8. Germán Gutiérrez & Thomas Philippon, 2017. "Declining Competition and Investment in the U.S," NBER Working Papers 23583, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Chad P. Bown, 2019. "The 2018 US-China Trade Conflict after 40 Years of Special Protection," Working Paper Series WP19-7, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    10. Herrala, Risto & Orlandi, Fabrice, 2020. "Win-win? Assessing the global impact of the Chinese economy," BOFIT Discussion Papers 4/2020, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    11. Afonso, António & Mignon, Valérie & Saadaoui, Jamel, 2024. "On the time-varying impact of China's bilateral political relations on its trading partners: “Doux commerce” or “trade follows the flag”?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    12. Carranza, Rafael & Prieto, Joaquín & Sehnbruch, Kirsten, 2025. "Job loss and earnings inequality: Distributional effects of formal re-employment in Chile," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1020-1036.
    13. Wolfgang Dauth & Sebastian Findeisen & Jens Suedekum, 2017. "Trade and Manufacturing Jobs in Germany," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(5), pages 337-342, May.
    14. Erling Barth & Henning Finseraas & Anders Kjelsrud & Kalle Moene, 2023. "Hit by the Silk Road: how wage coordination in Europe mitigates the China shock," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 125(1), pages 32-72, January.
    15. Adrian Wood, 2017. "Variation in structural change around the world, 1985–2015: Patterns, causes and implications," WIDER Working Paper Series 034a, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    16. David Autor & David Dorn & Gordon Hanson & Maggie R. Jones & Bradley Setzler, 2024. "Places versus People: The Ins and Outs of Labor Market Adjustment to Globalization," Working Papers 24-78, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    17. Jiang, Zhe (Jasmine), 2024. "Offshoring, firm-level adjustment and labor market outcomes," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    18. Adriana Peluffo, 2020. "China US Trade War: Will it impact on Latin American Countries?," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 20-08, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    19. Benedikt Heid & Raúl Mínguez & Asier Minondo, 2021. "Is competition from China so special?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(1), pages 64-88, January.
    20. Redding, Stephen, 2020. "Trade and Geography," CEPR Discussion Papers 15268, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:chinae:v:26:y:2018:i:5:p:62-82. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iwepacn.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.