SHANGHAI, April 9. /TASS/. The economic dependence of the United States on China is stronger that China's dependence on the US, so Beijing will not make concessions in the trade war with Washington, Zhang Weiwei, the director of its China Institute at the Fudan University, told TASS.
"When Trump announced that he would raise tariffs on Chinese products by 60%, I said: tell President Trump that there is no problem with an increase of 600%, because we have conducted an analysis and found that the US economic dependence on China exceeds China's dependence on the US," he said.
"No matter how much he increases tariffs, China will not make concessions, we understand quite clearly that they need needs us more than we need them," he added.
The expert recalled that the Fudan University predicted the return of Donald Trump after Joe Biden won the 2020 US presidential election. The Chinese government also held the position that there was a high probability of Trump's return to the White House, he added.
"In other words, China has been making preparations for four years," Zhang Weiwei noted.
He recalled that the products that China exports to the United States are mainly consumer goods, electronics, and components for developing industries. According to the most conservative estimate, in 50% of cases, China is the only supplier of products to the United States, Zhang Weiwei said.
"In other words, the United States cannot find an alternative," the expert said.
Zhang Weiwei also claimed that in the first round of the trade war, 90% of the US tariffs against China were paid by American companies and consumers.
The expert said that Trump's words are viewed skeptically in China.
"For example, he hopes that American companies investing in China - such as Apple and Microsoft - will return to the United States, but how is this possible?" the expert wondered.
He noted that in China, Apple, whether in the Yangtze River Delta area near Shanghai or the Pearl River Delta area near Shenzhen, can find all the components for mobile phones within a radius of 150 km.
"If Apple returns to the US market, will it be able to create such an ecosystem? It is impossible. It cannot be built in 10 years, it took us decades to build it," Zhang Weiwei explained.
The expert added that infrastructure construction in the US is very slow, and Trump has more than three and a half years at his disposal, "during which time the factory building will not be built."
"Trump has never worked in industry and has never run a real business, he is a developer, and his Secretary of Commerce is an investor, they have never been involved in manufacturing," the professor said.
US-China tariff war
On April 2, Trump announced the introduction of tariffs on products from 185 countries and regions, setting the minimum rate at 10%. For individual countries, he set individual tariffs, including 34% for China. As a retaliatory measure, Beijing will apply similar tariffs on all American goods from April 10. In response, Trump increased the tariffs on products from China to 104%.
The US President also said that Washington will not enter into an agreement on customs duties with Beijing until the United States eliminates its trade deficit with China.
By the end of 2024, trade turnover between China and the US reached $688.28 billion. At the same time, shipments from the US to China amounted to $163.62 billion, which is almost three times less than exports from China to the US. China imports agricultural products, microchips, machinery, hydrocarbons and metals from the US. The US buys smartphones, computers, lithium-ion batteries, plastic products, household appliances, shoes, children's toys and much more from China.