Ambassador Liu Xiaoming contributes an article entitled In the US/China trade battle, it is vital to separate truth from fiction to The Daily Telegraph

　　2019年6月27日，英国主流大报《每日电讯报》网络版刊登驻英国大使刘晓明署名文章《中美贸易争端真相：揭穿谎言，澄清事实》，全文如下：

　　6月初，中国政府发表了《关于中美经贸磋商的中方立场》白皮书，用大量事实和数据，揭露美国挑起对华经贸摩擦的真相，指出美国在经贸磋商中出尔反尔的危害，重申中国坚持平等、互利、诚信磋商的立场。我认为，这份白皮书至少揭穿了美国的“三大谎言”。

On 27 June 2019, The Daily Telegraph carried an article by Ambassador Liu Xiaoming entitled In the US/China trade battle, it is vital to separate truth from fiction. The full text is as follows:

In early June, the Chinese government published a white paper setting out its position on the ongoing economic and trade talks between China and the United States. The paper offered firm evidence that US negotiators had heightened economic and trade frictions and backtracked in the talks. It reaffirmed China's desire to engage in credible consultations, based on equality and mutual benefit.

The document exposed three lies by answering three questions. 

　　第一，“美国吃亏论”是罔顾事实。近来一些美国政客对中美之间所谓“巨额贸易逆差”耿耿于怀，将“美国每年输给中国5000亿美元”、“美国损失数百万个制造业岗位”挂在嘴边。这不仅歪曲了美国贸易逆差产生的原因，夸大了对华贸易逆差规模，更忽视了中美贸易互利共赢的本质。事实上，过度消费、储蓄不足、巨额财赤才是美国贸易逆差形成的根本原因。另据研究，美方公布的货物贸易逆差通常有20%的“水分”，再考虑到美对华服务贸易的巨额顺差，2018年美对华贸易逆差仅有1500多亿美元。此外，中国对美贸易顺差中外资企业贡献超过一半，很多外资企业在中国赚得“盆满钵满”。2017年美资企业在华年销售收入7000亿美元，利润超过500亿美元。中美贸易让质优价廉的中国商品走进美国千家万户，增进了消费者的福祉。多年来，美国主流智库认为，美制造业岗位流失的主因是其经济结构调整升级及技术进步带来的劳动生产率提高。显然，美国政客把贸易逆差当“吃亏”，把就业流失怪罪于中国是“算错了账”、“找错了人”。

Firstly, is America losing out in its trade with China? This is easily debunked. The allegedly "huge trade deficit" which underpins common claims that "America loses $500 billion to China every year" and that "millions of US manufacturing jobs are lost" as a result, is not just an exaggeration but a distortion of the causes for the deficit, and completely ignores the mutually beneficial nature of bilateral trade.

America's trade deficit is - first and foremost - caused by excessive consumer spending, low savings and a huge fiscal deficit, not trade with China. After removing the usual 20 percent error from the US published figures for trade in goods and taking into account America's enormous service trade surplus, the true deficit with China amounted to $150 billion in 2018 - a fraction of some of the wild exaggerations sometimes claimed.

Trade between our two nations brought huge benefits to the foreign companies in China which account for half of China's trade surplus with the US. In 2017, American businesses in China made more than $700 billion worth of sales, and $50 billion worth of profits. American consumers also benefit from the quality and affordable Chinese products.

Mainstream think tanks in the United States have for years suggested that the decline of manufacturing jobs results from higher US productivity, a natural outcome of technological progress and upgraded economic structure. It is simply wrong to view the existence of a trade deficit as evidence that America is somehow being "taken advantage of" by China.

　　第二，“关税有利论”是自欺欺人。贸易战没有赢家，这既是国际贸易常识，也是国际社会共识。但一些美国政客却宣称“贸易战很好”、“关税将为我们国家带来更多财富”。这些言论仿佛一个个虚幻的泡沫，在数据和事实面前一戳就破。首先，加征关税将严重损害美国经济、企业和民众利益。2018年美国农产品对华出口同比减少33.1%，其中大豆下降近50%，不少美国农民越来越担心就此失去培育近40年的中国市场。美国智库“贸易伙伴（Trade Partnership）”认为，如美国对所有中国输美商品加征25%关税，美国内生产总值将减少1.01%，就业岗位减少216万个，一个典型美国四口之家每年支出将增加2294美元。其次，美国无视世贸组织及其争端解决机制权威，对诸多贸易伙伴挥舞“关税大棒”，相关国家不得不采取反制措施，导致全球经贸秩序紊乱、国际市场信心受损、全球经济复苏势头受阻。最近国际货币基金组织已将2019年全球经济增长预期从3.6%下调至3.3%，经贸摩擦正成为世界经济的主要下行风险之一。

Secondly, have the tariff measures been successful? To believe this is to engage in self-deception. Common knowledge and the international consensus dictate that there are no winners in trade wars, and yet American politicians continue to argue that "tariffs will bring cash home" - claims which fly in the face of data and facts.

The imposition of tariffs is causing serious harm to the businesses and ordinary people forced to bear the cost of these measures. In 2018, exports of American agricultural produce to China decreased by 33.1 per cent year-on-year, including a 50 per cent drop in soybeans. Many American farmers fear that they will lose access to the Chinese market which they have been cultivating for nearly 40 years.

The US think tank Trade Partnership estimates that if the US imposes 25 per cent additional tariffs on all imported Chinese goods, US GDP will decrease by 1.01 per cent, at a cost of 2.16 million job losses and an additional annual burden of $2,294 for a family of four.

Furthermore, sweeping US tariff measures show a total disregard for the authority of the World Trade Organisation and its dispute resolution system. Instead they encourage counter measures from trading partners. All of this will disrupt the global trading order, undermine international market confidence, and thwart world economic recovery.

The International Monetary Fund in its World Economic Outlook report published in April marked down its projection of global economic growth for 2019 from the 2018 estimate of 3.6 per cent to 3.3 per cent, an indicator of the effects of economic and trade frictions.