Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

On Sunday local time, China and the US began talks in Madrid, Spain, to discuss issues such as the US unilateral tariff measures, the abuse of export controls and TikTok. On the eve of the talks, news emerged that US soybean farmers are "missing out on billions of dollars of soybean sales to China halfway through their prime marketing season." In recent years, Washington's trade war against China has been a lose-lose endeavor, often backfiring badly. The plight of US soybean farmers is a typical example.

It is now soybean harvest season in the US, yet debates over "unsalable soybeans" are growing louder across the country. Many farmers are deeply worried about "preparing to harvest their crop this fall with no purchase orders from China for the first time in many years." Some US farmers have even posted videos on social media expressing despair over being unable to sell their crops to China, despite harvesting more than usual. Since the 1990s, China's vast market demand has driven US growers to innovate in breeding, upgrade production lines, and improve transport systems, creating numerous jobs. For many years, half of all US soybean exports went to China, from which US farmers benefited tremendously. A single soybean may look small, but it reflects that China and the US are natural partners in agricultural cooperation, and highlights the win-win essence of bilateral economic and trade relations.

However, in recent years, as the US first imposed unreasonably high tariffs on China, Beijing was forced to levy tariffs on US soybeans and other goods. This pushed Chinese companies to turn to soybean supplies from Brazil, Argentina and other countries, while promoting import diversification and building strategic reserves to safeguard China's food security and supply chain stability. Some US media outlets have recently hyped the claim that China is using soybeans as a "weapon" in the trade war, treating US farmers as "bargaining chips." Such narratives completely ignore the fact that Washington initiated the unjustified tariffs, overlook that Chinese buyers naturally have every reason to diversify sources of supply, and most importantly, fail to grasp that China's approach to relations with the US is based on "mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation."

US farmers should not have to pay the price for Washington's trade war with China. The recent soybean stockpile glut and plummeting prices are ironclad proof of Washington's policy missteps. In August, American Soybean Association President Caleb Ragland wrote to the US president, urging the government to reach a deal with China as soon as possible to ease the crisis facing soybean farmers. Currently, the overlapping effects of tariffs and export controls have caused multiple shocks to the industrial chain, supply chain, and innovation chain. The negative impact of the US arbitrarily wielding the "tariff stick" on the global economy has become increasingly evident. In addition, the US itself is experiencing high inflation and high unemployment due to tariff issues, increasing the risk of an economic "hard landing."

Unfortunately, Washington has yet to learn enough from the challenges faced by its domestic soybean farmers and continues down the erroneous path of politicizing and weaponizing economic and trade issues. On September 12, the US Department of Commerce announced that multiple Chinese entities had been added to its export control list. As a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce noted, with China and the US scheduled to hold economic and trade talks in Spain from September 14, the US decision to sanction Chinese enterprises raises questions about its true intentions. Equal respect is a necessary precondition for initiating a new round of negotiations. If one side attempts to force the other into accepting certain outcomes through unilateral sanctions, generalized security concerns, selective enforcement, and other forms of "maximum pressure" before negotiations, it will only create noise, and erode mutual trust. This will increase the costs of reaching a consensus in negotiations for both countries, resulting in a loss for both sides.

Equal cooperation is the right way forward for the two major powers. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, two-way investment between China and the US has grown from nearly zero to $260 billion, and annual bilateral trade has expanded from less than $2.5 billion to over $680 billion in 2024, with both countries benefiting significantly from their cooperation. The ups and downs in the relationship between the two countries in recent years have also offered negative lessons. Addressing issues through pressure, sanctions, isolation, containment, and blockade will only raise costs and undermine expectations. Politicizing normal economic and technological exchanges and placing all issues into a "national security" context will not only fail to resolve "internal problems" but will also harm the stability of one's own industrial and supply chains. Resorting to "blaming China" for domestic political needs will only intensify confrontation and damage the legitimate interests of businesses and the public.

In the past few months, guided by important consensuses reached by the heads of state of China and the US, the economic and trade teams of both sides held three rounds of talks in Geneva, London, and Stockholm, achieving a positive consensus. This demonstrates that equal dialogue is the most effective path to alleviating confrontation and expanding consensus, with the mutual benefits between the two countries far outweighing their conflicts and differences. 

China's position has been consistent and clear: We insist on mutual respect and equal consultation, resolutely safeguarding our legitimate rights and interests as well as the multilateral trading system, and promoting an open, fair, just, and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises to continue operating in the US. The international community welcomes the phased progress made in China-US consultations and looks forward to both sides continuing to move forward along the path of dialogue and negotiation, injecting positive energy into the maintenance of the international economic and trade order.