BEIJING, January 13. /TASS/. US President-elect Donald Trump will intensify technological pressure on China, securing support from Washington’s allies, Zhang Yuyan, member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said.
"As for the technology sector, Trump classified China as a rival and he will adopt a tougher stance on high technologies in the field of security, so I’m afraid he will impose stricter restrictions, including export controls both in the US and its allies," Zhang said at a debate on China-US relations under Trump hosted by Tsinghua University.
He pointed out that a number of US politicians called for terminating normal trade relations with China and revoking its most-favored-nation trading status, which "will have a significant impact." "If the world’s two largest economies revoke the most-favored-nation treatment, it will create a highly negative precedent," the professor explained.
The most-favored-nation treatment is one of the fundamental principles of the World Trade Organization, which suggests that the negotiating parties commit to creating as favorable conditions for each other in economic and trade relations as for third countries. This particularly includes customs privileges.
US President-elect Donald Trump’s election program called for 60% tariffs on Chinese imports. During his first presidential term in 2017-2021, Trump in fact initiated a trade war against China over a major trade imbalance, which was in Beijing’s favor. Back then, the Trump administration pursued a policy of a comprehensive increase in pressure on Beijing and all-around containment of China. Washington introduced tariffs on the import of Chinese goods totaling $370 billion, which, however, did not eliminate the imbalance. Also, Trump considerably stepped up pressure on Chinese tech companies, namely Huawei.