Multiple foreign media outlets have reported, citing sources, that a high-level US business delegation will travel to China this week as China and the US hold a new round of economic and trade talks in Sweden. The visit is reportedly organized by the US-China Business Council, and some executives from Boeing and FedEx, as well as the council's president, Sean Stein, are on the list of visitors. This is also the highest-level visit of a US business delegation to China since the US abuse of tariffs starting April of this year. Previously, Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co, and Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia, visited China and expressed their optimism about the country. Recently, the visits of American businesspeople to China have not ceased.

Amid many uncertainties in China-US economic and trade relations, the spontaneous visits of American business representatives to China represent a collective choice of the business community. The South China Morning Post's recent interview with Sean Stein, who has been confirmed to be traveling with the delegation, allows people to see the true attitude of US society toward China-US economic and trade relations, beyond Washington's abuse of tariffs. Stein noted that the understanding of China is often outdated in the US; China's innovation is more important than its market for many companies, and R&D chains between the US and China have, in many cases, become highly integrated. "In many sectors, a company cannot be globally competitive today if it is not taking advantage of Chinese innovation," he said, noting that "companies have no choice but to have some operations in China." He also said, "We saw some incredible pragmatism on the part of the Chinese" in the tariff disputes. "We are asking the US to be similarly pragmatic," and "the tariffs were set to inflict more pain on the US than China," he noted.

The message conveyed by the US business community could not be clearer: China-US economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial and a win-win situation, and any attempt to sever economic ties between the two countries runs counter to economic principles. For them, cooperation between China and the US is not an "option" but a "necessity." Their choice is both a pragmatic move to seek business opportunities and a firm statement on the prospects of China-US economic and trade relations. The attractiveness of the Chinese market continues to reveal new value amid consumption upgrades and institutional opening-up; the wave of innovation from Chinese companies presents rare opportunities for American firms to upgrade; and the resilience and rapid recovery of China's supply chains provide businesses with valuable operational stability expectations. Investing in China and achieving mutual benefits has become a broad consensus among global investors, including those from the US.

The foundation of China-US economic and trade cooperation is not a zero-sum game of "who dominates whom," but a deep complementarity of economic structures and a natural choice under market mechanisms. The resilience of China-US economic and trade relations stems from their shared interests and willingness to cooperate. Whether it is the positive impact of China's efficient supply chains on American household consumption or the huge revenue opportunities for US companies in the Chinese market, data from the past decades have fully proven these points. When Tesla announced the construction of its Megapack energy storage plant in Shanghai, and global pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca established its global strategic R&D center in Beijing, these multinational giants' strategic deployments serve as a "thermometer" in the wave of economic globalization, measuring the warmth of China's institutional openness in the market.

Under the current circumstances, the essence of China-US economic and trade relations as mutually beneficial and win-win is increasingly highlighted. At the recently concluded China International Supply Chain Expo, the number of American exhibitors increased by 15 percent compared to the previous event, maintaining its position as the largest group of foreign exhibitors. Additionally, American business representatives actively participated in the Global Trade and Investment Promotion Summit held in Beijing in May. Just this month, a survey report by the US-China Business Council on 130 member companies revealed that the Chinese market remains crucial for American companies to maintain their global competitiveness, with nearly all respondents believing that they can't remain globally competitive without operations in China.

The global economy is facing multiple challenges. Whether it is optimizing the allocation of resources and adapting to the transformation of development models brought about by the continuous emergence of innovative technologies, or creating a stable global development environment, cooperation and collaborative development between China and the US are essential. The continuous visits of American business representatives to China not only reflect confidence in the prospects for China-US economic and trade cooperation but also respond to the contradictory mind-set of some in Washington who wish to contain China while not wanting to harm their own interests. For the US, this should be an opportunity to re-examine the underlying logic of its trade policies toward China, reduce the zero-sum game mentality, and focus more on achieving win-win and multiple-win outcomes. The US side should recognize the actual interests of the American people and businesses and meet China halfway, as this is also the common expectation of the international community. (Source: Global Times)