Bloomberg: The trade war has lasted for many years, and China is ahead in almost all important indicators

At present, the international trade situation has become an important factor affecting economic and industrial development, and the Sino-US trade dispute is one of the biggest variables of this era. Following the US government's rounds of sanctions on Chinese companies, Trump's WeChat ban also officially came into effect recently. However, Bloomberg pointed out that in the scoreboard of this trade war that has lasted for many years, China is in the leading position in almost all important indicators, and Trump has been defeated at all turning points.

Bloomberg's New Economy pointed out that in terms of trade, since Trump took office as US President, China's trade surplus with the United States has increased by nearly 25%, equivalent to an annual rate of more than US$300 billion. Furthermore, the results of the bilateral negotiations on the first phase of the China-US trade agreement have not yet been fully realized.

In addition, due to better control of the epidemic, China's GDP has recovered strongly. Data shows that China is the only country among the 48 countries in the world that announced its second-quarter GDP that has a higher value than at the end of 2019, while the US economy shrank by 9.5% in the second quarter, equivalent to an annual rate of 32.9%, the worst decline since the 1940s. At the same time, the renminbi appreciated for the eighth consecutive week, and the US dollar continued to plummet.

Behind these impressive figures, there are deeper industry trends. For example, precision machinery such as high-end tunnel boring machines, which used to be dominated by Germany, are now increasingly supplied by Chinese companies. It can be said that China has won a considerable global market share after the epidemic.

"It's only a matter of time before Chinese companies become number one," said Ulrich Acker-Mann, head of Germany's VDMA mechanical engineering industry association.

Secondly, the report pointed out that Trump’s executive ban on TikTok and WeChat will only be a distraction. There are better solutions to reduce the national security risks caused by the leakage of citizens’ data. In any case, criticizing Chinese technology companies will only slow down, not prevent, China from dominating the global economy in the 21st century.

It is worth noting that Bloomberg also cited the global battery development competition as an example, pointing out that as the key to future transportation, defense and other related industries, China's battery facilities' annual production capacity could reach a maximum of about 1.1TWh by 2025, almost twice the total of the rest of the world.

But there has been no response from the White House so far, said Cathy Zoi, a former assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy and now CEO of charging network operator EVgo.

Bloomberg pointed out that Trump's trade war in an attempt to decouple the Chinese and American economies will ultimately only accelerate China's industrial self-sufficiency, an economic trend also known as the "dual circulation."

Economist Alicia Garcia-Herrero said that the "dual circulation" seems to mark the beginning of China's reduction in dependence on imports, especially in high-end manufacturing equipment. "Dual circulation" is actually another way of saying import substitution.