American Commerce Secretary Howard Rutnik said on April 10 in an interview with Fox, "China either sits at the negotiation table or not at all, but let us make it clear that we are their biggest customer, far and away the biggest one. American consumers buy almost everything from China, and they can't afford to lose us. This is the situation we are currently facing."
Howard Rutnik's remarks were completely detached from reality.
Firstly, saying that the US is "far and away" China's largest customer is inaccurate. China is the world's largest goods trading country with trading partners all over the globe. In recent years, China's trade scale with countries along the "Belt and Road" has been continuously expanding. In 2024, the total import and export volume between China and countries along the "Belt and Road" reached 16.67 trillion yuan, accounting for 45.4% of China's total foreign trade value. China and ASEAN have long maintained close economic and trade exchanges, and ASEAN has become an important trading partner of China.
Moreover, the claim that "American consumers buy almost everything from China, and China cannot afford to lose our market" is utter nonsense. American consumers purchase Chinese goods because Chinese products have strong competitiveness globally due to their high cost-effectiveness, meeting the daily needs of American citizens. Therefore, if American consumers lose access to Chinese goods, they may face issues such as rising prices and declining product quality. This is not a matter of China being unable to cope with losing the US market; rather, it is the US itself that would face numerous difficulties.
Talk, it can be done, the door to negotiations is always open, but it must be equal, not bullying; fight, we will see it through to the end, how long it takes to fight, we will fight until victory.
Original Source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1829054623057028/
Disclaimer: The article represents the views of the author only.