by Nguon Sovan, Mao Pengfei
PHNOM PENH, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian officials and scholars said on Friday that there will be no winner in the United States-China trade friction and that the two sides should make concessions in their negotiations.
The trade dispute between the world's two largest economies was initiated by the U.S. administration in March 2018.
Cambodian Government Spokesman Phay Siphan said U.S. President Donald Trump should not use the trade dispute with China to gain his popularity ahead of the 2020 U.S. election because it could lead to the destruction of the world's economy.
"I think this is just a campaign to attract sympathy from voters," he said. "When the tariffs are increased, the American consumers will be the primary sufferers, and it will affect their daily livelihood."
As Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump are due to meet on Saturday in Osaka on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meeting, Siphan said their meeting was vital to defuse trade tension between the two big countries.
"I believe that both sides will try their best to solve their trade friction for the interest of their own countries and the whole world," he said.
Hos Sereythonh, an advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said the losers in the dispute would be the American consumers because the price of Chinese goods in the United States would go up.
He said the U.S. purpose to hold back China's development through tariff measures would not succeed, as China has seen rapid development in all fields, especially in science and technology.
He said the U.S.-initiated trade dispute attempted to disrupt China's development and to cause instability in China.
Ky Sereyvath, an economic researcher at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said the import of goods from China to the U.S. is a key factor behind the long-term low inflation in the United States.
"The dispute will lead to the rise of inflation in the U.S. because the U.S. has imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from China, so the prices of cars and beer in the U.S. will increase," he said.
Lim Heng, vice president of the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce, said the conflict would first hurt American and Chinese companies which were doing businesses with each other, and he hoped that the two nations could find a win-win solution to their friction as soon as possible so as to minimize negative effects on the world's economy.
