Economist: China, US may reach trade agreement

"I believe that there is a possibility of a turnaround in the China-US trade friction in the short term and it is possible to reach a trade agreement," said Shen Jianguang, chief economist and vice-president of JD Finance, in Bejing on Monday.

The relationship between China and the United States in the medium and long term is still very complicated. "I think in the short-term it is the trade friction and in the medium term, it is the competition of technology and economic system," said Shen.

The subprime mortgage crisis 10 years ago is an important turning point for the economic competition between the two countries.

Enterprises in the US were facing financial difficulties and had no way to expand due to the subprime mortgage crisis and the global financial crisis.

China, on the other hand, was little affected as the government took various measures, such as the 4-trillion-yuan stimulative policy. Chinese enterprises took advantage of huge opportunities for expansion, resulting in surge in China's exports and domestic retail market.

The rise of China's advanced technology is also an earth-shaking change that has taken place over the past decade. "Although we haven't reached the same level as the United States, the growth rate of China's high technology is much higher than the overall industrial production growth rate," Shen said.

Some commodities in the US, China's exports account for as much as 80 or 90 percent of the market, so American consumers are very dependent on Chinese good. "I think that for the United States, the pressure on the trade friction is very large," said Shen.

"I visited more than 50 European multinational companies in June and July this year. In fact, they are very optimistic about China. They think China's market growth rate is still much higher than that of others and China's environmental protection steps are beneficial to them," Shen said.

Further reform and opening-up will empower China's economic growth. "We have a lot more space for further opening-up, such as finance, internet, media, medical and tourism industries," Shen said.

"The Chinese market will become more attractive to foreign companies if we continue to open up and improve the business environment."

The comprehensive department of the Ministry of Commerce and the International Trade and Economic Cooperation Research Institute jointly issued a report on China's international trade situation on Monday.

The report reviews China's foreign trade operations in the first three quarters of 2018, and looks at the development trend of China's foreign trade in 2018 and 2019.

China's foreign trade maintained a stable and good trend in the first three quarters of 2018, according to the report. The growth rate was generally stable, the structure continued to be optimized, the power was accelerated, and the quality and efficiency of development were steadily improved.

"The current Sino-US trade friction has a limited impact on China's foreign trade," said the report.

The report believes that the current international market demand is relatively stable, domestic import demand is growing steadily, and China's foreign trade has the basic conditions for maintaining steady growth.