American experts stress importance of co-operation with China

The 2020 New Economics Forum, co-organised by China's Centre for International Economic Exchanges, “Bloomberg”, Britain's International Institute for Strategic Studies and the “Mandela” Institute for Development Studies (MINDS), was closed on Thursday. Many American participating experts expressed at this three-day forum that it is important to strengthen co-operation with the Chinese side.

Gary Cohn, former head of the National Economic Council and former economic adviser to the American president, is of the opinion that the US and China need each other and these relations are very important. Accepting such a fact is of key importance to the welfare of the two countries. Cohn noted that resolving the problem of the US trade deficit to China cannot rely on increasing customs duties on Chinese goods, but on exploiting the mutual advantages of both sides.

“The US, in fact, is a country that relies mainly on service sectors.

While former US Trade Representative Charlene Barsefsky thinks that “tariff fight” is a futile attempt and has damaged American consumers' interests:

“The consequences of increasing tariffs have certainly not been met by China, but by American consumers and American importers”, she noted.
As for global co-operation, former US Finance Secretary and Harvard University Honorary Chancellor Lawrence Summers said that, in the face of a crackdown by COVID-19's pandemic, central banks of major global economies lack joint action on a global level, as happened during the 2008 financial crisis. He stressed that further strengthening of co-operation with China is very important.

“During the past financial crisis, with the support of the international community, the IMF, the World Bank and many international financial institutions took many affordable measures, which is in sharp contrast to the current situation, when unified monetary policy is lacking at a global level.
This is the third edition of the New Economic Forum, focused on five topics: finances, trade, cities, climate change and health. Over 500 politicians, entrepreneurs and experts from dozens of countries participated in discussions on issues such as anti-epidemic warfare, weather change, transformation and the rise of digitalisation, promotion of continued and inclusive development of the global economy after the start of the pandemic.