Sino-US Trade Benefits Analysis-Based On The Perspective Of Material Consumption

With the rapid economic development,China’s foreign trade growth has accelerated.China’s total import and export trade of goods became the first in the world for the first time in 2013.According to the latest statistics,China’s total import and export of goods reached 46.23 billion dollars in 2018,accounting for 11.8%of the worlds.This data reached a record high.As far as the main trading partners of goods are concerned,the USA is China’s largest bilateral trading partner,with total import and export trade reaching 583.7billion,accounting for 14%of China’total trade,especially the trade volume of goods exported from China to the US 429.7 billion dollars,about three times that of imports from the USA.In recent years,with the continuous expansion of Sino-US trade,China’s trade surplus has also grown,and the long-term trade surplus has become the main cause of Sino-US trade friction.On the surface,China has gained a lot of benefits from trade.However,as an export-oriented economy,most of China’s export products are primary products atthe bottom of the value chain,which consumes a lot of natural resources and energy during production and processing.These are extremely disadvantageous to the sustainable utilization of resources in our country.Therefore,when the loss of resources consumed behind trade is taken into account,whether these apparent benefits obtained by China can be offset is an important issue in this study.The traditional method of monetary statistics reflects the economic value of traded products from the perspective market,neglecting the implied consumption of natural resources behind the products that people are more concerned about.In view of this,this study uses Eora global multi-region input-output database and the global resource extraction data of the United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP),and uses environmentally expanded multi-region input-output analysis of environmentally expansion to explore the resource consumption(RME)from 1995 to 2015,and combines with the trade value flow and direct flow data in the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database,a comprehensive inventory of Sino-US trade and trade volume between trading partners,intuitive weight of trade products,and RME included resource consumption.Combining apparent trade value and resource value,objectively and comprehensively assessing the benefits and losses in the Sino-US trade process,while taking into account the human economic system and the resource environmental system,Fully making up for the deficiency of monetary measurement method Related results show that RME have proven to be indicators based on the consumption of natural resources,and are a valuable tool to help solve complex trade problems.As the largest export-oriented economy,China also exports a lot of natural resources while exporting commodities.Especially in the trade with the US,China’s RME exports(i.e the exports of raw materials)exceed imports from the USA.Although China receives more funds from exports than it pays for imports,the real imbalance relies on a large amount of resources to flow out of China,and the value of imports to support the Chinese economy is difficult to compensate.On the contrary,as an importing economy,The US has obtained a lot of resource benefits through the import of products.Therefore,in Sino-U.S.Trade,China has shown a trade surplus and a hidden flow deficit.The USA has just the opposite.Trade needs to be evaluated through more comprehensive indicators that complement market-based economic value.The method of related indicators shows that when the consumption of hidden resources in traded products is considered,the benefits of the USA is far more than China.The indicator of the full trade balance indicates that in 2015,the USA Total trade balance from trade reached 753.9 billion,while China received only $ 18.9 billion in the same period,indicating that maintaining stable trade has enabled China and the United States to achieve a balance situation,but the USA has gained more.The conclusion is that trade accounting methods should include an overall assessment in addition to the monetary cost of traded goods.It is of great significance to promote the sustainable development of Sino-US trade between China and US through scientific accounting methods and provides a certain reference for the healthy development of trade to other countries.It is suggested that the Chinese government should expand its opening to the outside world,increase the selectivity of traded products from the perspective of resource consumption,take into account the rational use of resources while developing the economy,and develop productivity under the model of circular economy;Invest in and cooperate with developing countries to rationally develop overseas natural resources with abundant reserves.