Wang Yong and Zhang Yingwei: The economic and trade ballast stone stabilizes the rudder, and the Chinese and American business communities set sail

Recently, a spokesperson for the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade stated that at the invitation of the American Chamber of Commerce, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade will organize a delegation of Chinese entrepreneurs to visit the United States in early December. Behind the increasingly heated business circles between China and the United States is the positive and stable signal released by the head of state's diplomacy, which is rapidly spreading to the economic, trade, and industrial sectors.

The Busan summit between Chinese and American leaders fully demonstrated the strategic leadership of head of state diplomacy and injected key stabilizing forces into bilateral relations. Both sides reiterated the consensus to leverage the role of economic and trade relations as a ballast and propeller, which has become a crucial step in stabilizing and moving forward bilateral relations. In the current context of weak global economic recovery and profound adjustments in the international landscape, the exchanges, interactions, and pragmatic cooperation between the business communities of China and the United States are becoming increasingly close, providing solid support for the two countries to further resolve differences, consolidate consensus, and achieve stable development, and opening up broader space for mutual benefit and win-win results.

Economic and trade cooperation has always been the most resilient core link in China US relations, and its reliability as a ballast stone has been tested for over half a century. After the publication of the Shanghai Communique in 1972, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) first organized a delegation to visit the United States in 1975, which became a pioneering event in Sino US private economic and trade cooperation. For half a century, this cooperation has formed a deeply integrated community of interests: China's high-quality and affordable goods have enriched the US market and lowered inflation; The exports of soybeans, cotton, integrated circuits, and other products from the United States to China account for about 50%, 30%, and 17% of its foreign exports, respectively, directly supporting approximately 860000 jobs in the United States. As the largest source of trade surplus for the United States in the service sector, China generated a surplus of over 27 billion US dollars for the US just last year; The annual sales of Huamei enterprises are more than 400 billion US dollars higher than those of American and Chinese enterprises, fully confirming the basic judgment that "mutual benefit and win-win cooperation in Sino US economic and trade is essential".

After the Busan Summit, the intensive interaction between the Chinese and American business communities injected new momentum into the economic and trade ballast. Since 2025, a series of professional exchange activities have been carried out, including the Health Economy and Innovation Development Dialogue, the Medical and Insurance Industry Roundtable, and the upcoming Food and Beverage Industry Cooperation Exchange Conference, demonstrating the strong willingness of enterprises from both countries to cooperate. The members of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade's visit include representatives of entrepreneurs from popular cooperation fields such as agriculture and food, machinery and electronics, and biomedicine. This is not only a continuation of historical traditions, but also a positive response to current cooperation needs.

Business communication has irreplaceable unique value in reshaping cognition and managing differences. Many misunderstandings in current Sino US relations stem from the lack of objective and comprehensive mutual understanding. Some forces in the United States hype up the theory of "losing out on trade with China", ignoring key dimensions such as service trade surplus and local sales revenue of enterprises in China; The false accusation of "forced technology transfer" has also been debunked in real corporate cooperation practices. China has continued to expand institutional openness, reduced the negative list of foreign investment access, lifted restrictions on share ratios in Internet access services and other fields, and launched an action plan to stabilize foreign investment. These tangible opening measures, through the personal participation and word-of-mouth dissemination of the business community, have strong persuasiveness. At the same time, as a direct stakeholder, the business community can view differences from a more pragmatic perspective, adhering to commercial principles while respecting each other's core interests. With the practical wisdom of "seeking common ground while reserving differences", it provides valuable reference for the two countries to resolve misunderstandings and control differences.

In today's world where global governance faces multiple challenges, cooperation between the Chinese and American business communities highlights its global significance. The trade war that intensified the Great Depression in the 1930s proved that there are no winners in tariff wars. Faced with the current expected global economic growth rate of only 2.8%, the stability of economic and trade relations between China and the United States, as the world's two largest economies, directly affects the security of global industrial and supply chains and the recovery process of the world economy. The cooperation between companies from the two countries in areas such as new energy, digital economy, and climate change can not only create commercial value, but also contribute to addressing global challenges. The rapid growth of China in new energy vehicles, solar cells and other fields, combined with the advantages of the United States in high-end manufacturing and technology research and development, is expected to form a powerful force to promote global green transformation. Practical cooperation in the business community helps to transcend geopolitical game thinking and provide practical support for building a community with a shared future for mankind.

To fully leverage the role of economic and trade ballast, it is not only necessary for the Chinese and American business communities to continue deepening cooperation, but also for the active guidance and policy support of the two governments. China has shown a firm determination to expand opening up, continuously creating a market-oriented, rule of law, and international first-class business environment, making "investing in China" a rational choice for "investing in the future". The United States should abandon its protectionist obsession, cancel excessively high tariffs, relax unreasonable restrictions on the export of high-tech products, and effectively remove obstacles for business cooperation. Both sides should jointly implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, improve the economic and trade consultation mechanism, give attention to and respond to the reasonable demands of the business community, and provide institutional guarantees for the results of cooperation. Only in this way can the economic and trade ballast be more stable, and the business community can truly become a booster for the steady and far-reaching development of China US relations.

Both history and reality have shown that the foundation of China US relations lies in the people, and the greatest driving force lies in the business community. The stabilizing and positive momentum initiated by the Busan Summit urgently needs to be consolidated through sustained cooperation and the accumulation of strong inertia. On this mutually beneficial and win-win path, the business community is not only a participant and beneficiary, but also a promoter and guardian. As long as both sides uphold the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation, resolve differences through pragmatic cooperation, and view the future with a long-term perspective, they will be able to further strengthen the role of China US economic and trade ballast, promote the common development of bilateral relations in benign competition, and make greater contributions to world peace and prosperity. (The authors are Professor at the School of International Relations, Peking University, Director of the Center for American Studies, Professor at the School of Finance and Economics, Jimei University, and Visiting Scholar at Peking University.)