Analysis of the Causes for the Sino-US Trade War

Research Article
Open access

Analysis of the Causes for the Sino-US Trade War

Yujia Fu 1*
  • 1 University of Macau    
  • *corresponding author sc12231@umac.mo
Published on 14 September 2023 | https://doi.org/10.54254/2753-7048/10/20230047
LNEP Vol.10
ISSN (Print): 2753-7056
ISSN (Online): 2753-7048
ISBN (Print): 978-1-83558-001-1
ISBN (Online): 978-1-83558-002-8

Abstract

In 2018, the US government launched a trade war against China, and later it became a tit-for-tat competition between these two economies. It brought more uncertainties and challenges to bilateral and global trade. The economic conflict was a long-term issue between the two countries, while the Section 301 investigations provided rationales for the Trump administration to launch the trade war. This paper aims to reveal the reasons that contributed to the Sino-US trade war in order to better understand the whole economic conflict. There are some data collected by the US government and some official organizations are used in this paper to introduce the background. The writer mainly uses the literature analysis to discuss the possibilities that cause the trade war and applies one theory – the Hegemonic Stability Theory to analyze the situation. At last, different perspectives of the deep-seated causes were applied to understand the trade war. This paper discovers that the trade war between the two countries was not only caused by economic conflicts, but also technological disputes, and other deep-seated issues, including national security and political concerns. All these causes should be addressed to understand and smooth the tensions.

Keywords:

US, China, trade war, causes

Fu,Y. (2023). Analysis of the Causes for the Sino-US Trade War. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media,10,44-49.
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References

[1]. Section 301 – China Technology Transfer. (n.d.). United States Trade Representative. https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/enforcement/section-301-investigations/section-301-china

[2]. Evenett, S. J. (2019). The Smoot–Hawley Fixation: Putting the Sino-US Trade War in Contemporary and Historical Perspective. Journal of International Economic Law, 22(4), 535–555. https://doi.org/10.1093/jiel/jgz039

[3]. Zhao, S., & Guo, D. (2019). A New Cold War? Causes and Future of the Emerging US-China Rivalry. Vestnik RUDN. International Relations, 19(1), 9–21. https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-0660-2019-19-1-9-21

[4]. Sukar, A., & Ahmed, S. (2019). Rise of trade protectionism: the case of US-Sino trade war. Transnational Corporations Review, 11(4), 279–289. https://doi.org/10.1080/19186444.2019.1684133

[5]. Beyond 20/20 WDS - Language Selection. (2018). UNCTASTAT. https://unctadstat.unctad.org/wds/?aspxerrorpath=/wds/ReportFolders/reportFolders.aspx

[6]. Li, Y., Chen, B., Li, C., Li, Z., & Chen, G. (2020). Energy perspective of Sino-US trade imbalance in global supply chains. Energy Economics, 92, 104959. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2020.104959

[7]. Boylan, B. M., McBeath, J., & Wang, B. (2020). US–China Relations: Nationalism, the Trade War, and COVID-19. Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, 14(1), 23–40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-020-00302-6

[8]. Qin, J. Y. (2019). Forced Technology Transfer and the US-China Trade War: Implications for International Economic Law. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3436974

[9]. Fabre, G. (2021). China’s S&T catch-up and Sino-U.S. technological decoupling: The case for 5G. https://erasmus-expertise.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/TEXTE-Guihem-5G-version-finale.pdf

[10]. BBC News. (2019, May 7). Huawei faces US charges: The short, medium and long story. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47046264

[11]. Freifeld, K., Li, K., Warburton, M., & Ljunggren, D. (2021, September 27). Huawei CFO leaves Canada after U.S. agreement on fraud charges, detained Canadians head home. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/technology/huawei-cfo-meng-appear-court-expected-reach-agreement-with-us-source-2021-09-24/

[12]. Kim, M. H. (2019). A real driver of US–China trade conflict. International Trade, Politics and Development, 3(1), 30–40. https://doi.org/10.1108/itpd-02-2019-003

[13]. Sinkkonen, E. (2013). Nationalism, Patriotism and Foreign Policy Attitudes among Chinese University Students. The China Quarterly, 216, 1045–1063. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305741013001094

[14]. Zhao, S. (2004). A Nation-State by Construction: Dynamics of Modern Chinese Nationalism (1st ed.). Stanford University Press.

[15]. Kindleberger, C. (1973), The World in Depression, 1929-1939, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.

[16]. Sheng, Q. (2019). Sino-US Trade War: Conservative Trade Policy in the Grand Economic Strategy of the United States. Management and Economics Research Journal, 5, 1. https://doi.org/10.18639/merj.2019.954639

[17]. Li, W. (2019). Towards Economic Decoupling? Mapping Chinese Discourse on the China–US Trade War, 12(4), 519-556. https://doi.org/10.1093/cjip/poz017

[18]. Wang, Z. (2018). System Recognition and Economic and Trade Disputes: An Analysis of the Reasons for the US Trade War with China. The Chinese Journal of American studies, 32(5), 49-65.

Cite this article

Fu,Y. (2023). Analysis of the Causes for the Sino-US Trade War. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media,10,44-49.

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About volume

Volume title: Proceedings of the International Conference on Social Psychology and Humanity Studies

ISBN：978-1-83558-001-1(Print) / 978-1-83558-002-8(Online)
Editor：Faisalabad Matilde Lafuente-Lechuga, Muhammad Idrees
Conference website: https://www.icsphs.org/
Conference date: 24 April 2023
Series: Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media
Volume number: Vol.10
ISSN：2753-7048(Print) / 2753-7056(Online)

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References

[1]. Section 301 – China Technology Transfer. (n.d.). United States Trade Representative. https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/enforcement/section-301-investigations/section-301-china

[2]. Evenett, S. J. (2019). The Smoot–Hawley Fixation: Putting the Sino-US Trade War in Contemporary and Historical Perspective. Journal of International Economic Law, 22(4), 535–555. https://doi.org/10.1093/jiel/jgz039

[3]. Zhao, S., & Guo, D. (2019). A New Cold War? Causes and Future of the Emerging US-China Rivalry. Vestnik RUDN. International Relations, 19(1), 9–21. https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-0660-2019-19-1-9-21

[4]. Sukar, A., & Ahmed, S. (2019). Rise of trade protectionism: the case of US-Sino trade war. Transnational Corporations Review, 11(4), 279–289. https://doi.org/10.1080/19186444.2019.1684133

[5]. Beyond 20/20 WDS - Language Selection. (2018). UNCTASTAT. https://unctadstat.unctad.org/wds/?aspxerrorpath=/wds/ReportFolders/reportFolders.aspx

[6]. Li, Y., Chen, B., Li, C., Li, Z., & Chen, G. (2020). Energy perspective of Sino-US trade imbalance in global supply chains. Energy Economics, 92, 104959. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2020.104959

[7]. Boylan, B. M., McBeath, J., & Wang, B. (2020). US–China Relations: Nationalism, the Trade War, and COVID-19. Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, 14(1), 23–40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-020-00302-6

[8]. Qin, J. Y. (2019). Forced Technology Transfer and the US-China Trade War: Implications for International Economic Law. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3436974

[9]. Fabre, G. (2021). China’s S&T catch-up and Sino-U.S. technological decoupling: The case for 5G. https://erasmus-expertise.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/TEXTE-Guihem-5G-version-finale.pdf

[10]. BBC News. (2019, May 7). Huawei faces US charges: The short, medium and long story. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47046264

[11]. Freifeld, K., Li, K., Warburton, M., & Ljunggren, D. (2021, September 27). Huawei CFO leaves Canada after U.S. agreement on fraud charges, detained Canadians head home. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/technology/huawei-cfo-meng-appear-court-expected-reach-agreement-with-us-source-2021-09-24/

[12]. Kim, M. H. (2019). A real driver of US–China trade conflict. International Trade, Politics and Development, 3(1), 30–40. https://doi.org/10.1108/itpd-02-2019-003

[13]. Sinkkonen, E. (2013). Nationalism, Patriotism and Foreign Policy Attitudes among Chinese University Students. The China Quarterly, 216, 1045–1063. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305741013001094

[14]. Zhao, S. (2004). A Nation-State by Construction: Dynamics of Modern Chinese Nationalism (1st ed.). Stanford University Press.

[15]. Kindleberger, C. (1973), The World in Depression, 1929-1939, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.

[16]. Sheng, Q. (2019). Sino-US Trade War: Conservative Trade Policy in the Grand Economic Strategy of the United States. Management and Economics Research Journal, 5, 1. https://doi.org/10.18639/merj.2019.954639

[17]. Li, W. (2019). Towards Economic Decoupling? Mapping Chinese Discourse on the China–US Trade War, 12(4), 519-556. https://doi.org/10.1093/cjip/poz017

[18]. Wang, Z. (2018). System Recognition and Economic and Trade Disputes: An Analysis of the Reasons for the US Trade War with China. The Chinese Journal of American studies, 32(5), 49-65.

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