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BEIJING: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's proposal to slap tariffs on Chinese exports to the US would renew a damaging trade war between the world's two largest economies, said analysts.
Trump delivered his proposal on Wednesday where he said that if elected, he would instruct the US Trade Representative to file trade cases against China, both in the US and at the World Trade Orgaisation.
"We believe that whoever wins the US election, future US leaders will continue to adopt a basic policy of mutual cooperation with China that benefits US interests and Americans," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a daily news briefing on Thursday.
"Since the interdependence between the world's two largest economies is a powerful means to deter each other, Trump's proposal would be difficult to implement," Liu Weidong, a research fellow at the Institute of American Studies of the China Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.
However, a new US-China trade war would erupt if Trump gets elected and implements his proposal, said Song Guoyou, a professor at Fudan University's Centre for American Studies, adding that China would retaliate against US exports to China.
Echoing Song, Liu told the Global Times that the trade war would lead to a deadlock.
Song said the trade war would have a negative impact on many areas in both countries, including China's manufacturing industry, US agriculture, airplane manufacturing and the IT industry.
Furthermore, a US-China trade war would also drag the rest of the world into trade protectionism, Song added.
Labelling China as a "currency manipulator," Trump would sabotage the current economic exchange mechanism between the two nations and agreements reached so far on the yuan exchange rate reform, Song added.