America’s ＂Reversing the Chess＂ and Destroying the Multilateral Economic and Trade Order —— The Third Comment on the Anti-intellectual Nature of American Trade War

　　Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, May 16th Title: The United States "repents" and undermines the multilateral economic and trade order — — The third comment on the anti-intellectual nature of American trade war

　　Xinhua News Agency reporter Yu Rong

　　The United States was the main maker of international trade rules and an important constructor of international economic and trade order after World War II. However, in recent years, the United States has frequently resorted to devious tactics, including abusing "long-arm jurisdiction" to sanction other countries, promoting "pseudo-multilateralism" by cliques, and wantonly undermining the authority and effectiveness of the multilateral trading system, in an attempt to forcibly change the existing multilateral rules to safeguard its own hegemony and curb the development of other countries.

　　These acts not only betray international morality and American commitments, but also seriously undermine international trade rules and multilateral economic and trade order; Not only will it bring huge losses to the world economy, but it will also eventually bite the United States itself.

　　The United States abuses "long-arm jurisdiction" to seek personal gain.

　　The United States always asks other countries to abide by the "rules-based international order", but it is self-centered, pursues "American priority", puts domestic laws above international laws, replaces international rules with "family rules", and has long abused "long-arm jurisdiction" to suppress other countries and seek personal gain.

　　In March 2018, the Trump administration imposed high tariffs on steel and aluminum products in many countries and regions on the grounds of safeguarding national security in accordance with Article 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which triggered a global trade dispute. Since then, the United States has "revived" the "zombie" trade remedy tools before the establishment of the WTO with high frequency, disrupting the international trade order.

　　On March 8, 2018, the United States announced that it would impose high tariffs on imported steel and aluminum products. This is the location of the White House filmed in Washington, DC that day. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Shen Ting)

　　In October last year, the U.S. Department of Commerce upgraded the export control of semiconductors and other fields to China. In February this year, the United States extended the export control related to semiconductors to Japanese and Dutch enterprises. In the view of Kiyoshi Sekou, research director of Canon Institute of Global Strategy in Japan, the United States not only restricts the overseas economic activities of domestic enterprises, but also escalates export controls. It also coerces other countries to join the sanctions team and forces others to do things that are unfavorable to them. "This is a triad act."

　　According to the report of the US Treasury Department, by the end of fiscal year 2021, the United States has imposed more than 9,400 sanctions. Its number and variety are shocking.

　　Driven by the principle of "American priority", hegemonic acts such as unilateralism, protectionism and extreme egoism of the United States wantonly violate the credibility foundation and contractual spirit of international rules and become the destroyer of international economic and trade order.

　　“‘ Us priority ’ Policy is like a rampaging bison. " Evandro Carvalho, an expert on international law at the Vargas Foundation in Brazil, pointed out that the United States is undermining the stability of the world order.

　　The United States gangs promote "pseudo-multilateralism."

　　After the farce of "withdrawing from the group" and "breaking the contract" was staged by the previous government, the US side is now advocating "returning to multilateralism", which seems to be different from the previous naked unilateralism policy of waging a trade war, but in fact it is "pseudo-multilateralism" that divides the world by dividing ideological circles and choosing sides between camps.

　　On May 18, 2022, Sullivan, Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Affairs, answered questions at the regular press conference of the White House in Washington. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Shen Ting)

　　In May 2022, the United States announced the launch of the so-called "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework". On the one hand, it claimed that the goal of the framework was to promote cooperation, stability, prosperity, development and peace in the region. On the other hand, it said that the framework was aimed at rebuilding the economic leadership of the United States in the region and providing options to replace China’s plan. In this regard, Mohammad Asif Nur, director of the Institute of Peace and Diplomacy in Islamabad, Pakistan, believes that the US move is actually to concoct a parallel mechanism outside the current regional cooperation framework, with the aim of manipulating the global supply chain.

　　The United States has not only formed gangs in the Asia-Pacific region, but also continued to promote "pseudo-multilateralism" in many parts of the world, engaging in exclusive economic and trade circles and promoting hegemonic trade terms, posing a threat to the global economic and trade order.

　　Driven by the United States, the G-7 launched the so-called "Rebuilding a Better World" global infrastructure initiative, claiming that it is "a high-standard and transparent infrastructure partnership driven by values led by major democratic countries". In June 2022, US President Biden announced the launch of the Global Infrastructure and Investment Partnership while attending the G-7 Summit, and announced that he would raise 600 billion US dollars in the next five years to provide developing countries with funds for infrastructure development.

　　Analysts pointed out that the United States often beautifies such initiatives in the name of "openness", but its real intention is to contain and contain the development of China and other countries. The so-called investment of hundreds of billions of dollars is just a verbal commitment to serve the geopolitical purpose of the United States, and in the end it is just a "blank check."

　　"The multilateral cooperation of the United States mainly depends on the extent to which these multilateral organizations are regarded as appropriate tools to promote the effective achievement of American goals." The book "American Hegemony and International Organizations" published by Oxford University in the United Kingdom wrote this way.

　　The United States wantonly undermines the existing multilateral system.

　　The attitude of the United States towards international rules has always been "use it together, or abandon it if it disagrees". No matter who formulated this rule, whether it has been recognized and followed by the vast majority of countries, and what commitments and obligations the United States itself has made, as long as it is not conducive to safeguarding American interests and hegemony, it can be trampled on and abandoned at will.

　　This is the WTO logo photographed at the WTO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland on April 5, 2023. Xinhua News Agency reporter Lian Yushe

　　In December 2019, the appellate body in the dispute settlement mechanism of the World Trade Organization was shut down because the United States blocked the selection of judges, which paralyzed multilateral trade arbitration institutions and made the multilateral trading system face an unprecedented crisis. At the meeting of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body held in February this year, the proposal put forward by 127 WTO members to restart the selection process of new judges of the Appellate Body was once again rejected because of opposition from the United States.

　　Raj Barra, a law professor at the University of Kansas in the United States, said that the United States was once the "driving force" created by the Appellate Body of the WTO, but now it has "strangled" it, which has caused a major setback to the multilateral trading system. It is a "great irony".

　　The WTO report shows that the United States is by far the most "unruly", and two-thirds of WTO violations are caused by the United States.

　　Forcibly obstruct the share reform of the International Monetary Fund, obstruct the selection of members of the WTO Appellate Body, and interfere with the normal operation of multilateral institutions … … Frequent crooked moves by the United States have seriously undermined international trade rules and multilateral economic and trade order, brought incalculable losses and damage to the world economy, and will eventually hurt itself because of its inseparable close ties with the global economy.

　　"Everything the United States does is to safeguard monopoly and hegemony." Motassim Rashid, economic adviser of the Egyptian Federation of Investors’ Associations, said that the United States’ attempts to impose export and investment restrictions on other countries would be counterproductive and ultimately affect the economic growth of the United States itself.