A container ship leaves Qingdao Port, Shandong province. [YU FANGPING/FOR CHINA DAILY]

Global Times-In recent days, the fallout from the US so-called "reciprocal tariff" policy has continued to intensify: The global financial market has fluctuated, panic buying and hoarding have taken hold among American consumers, and the international community has voiced strong condemnation. All of this once again underscores the unpopularity of unilateralism and protectionism. On April 5, China's government issued its position on opposing the US abuse of tariffs, stating, "Economic bullying that shifts risks onto others will ultimately backfire," and "the world will not, and should not, return to mutual isolation or fragmentation." These are not only righteous calls for fairness over hegemony, but also powerful statements in line with the tide of the times and the direction of global development. 

Economic globalization is an inevitable path for human progress, and open cooperation is an irreversible trend of history. Today's web of trade arrangements around the globe is not dictated by any single country; rather, it is a natural outcome of developing productive forces and deepening interdependence among nations. 

Trade serves as a key engine of economic growth and represents the most fundamental form of globalization. The expansion of global trade has driven global economic growth and prosperity, while strengthening the interconnectedness of the world economy.

Since the founding of the World Trade Organization 30 years ago, global trade volume has grown from about $5 trillion in 1994 to $33 trillion in 2024 - more than a fivefold increase. Economic globalization has facilitated the flow of goods and capital, advanced technology and civilization, deepened exchanges among peoples, improved livelihoods, and brought about an unprecedented level of global prosperity.

As the world's largest economy, the US has long accounted for over 25 percent of global GDP, and the US dollar, as the dominant international reserve currency, constitutes around 60 percent of global foreign exchange reserves. With these advantages, the US has reaped enormous benefits from economic globalization and the dollar-based hegemonic system, making it undeniably the biggest beneficiary of free trade and the current international economic order. Yet in recent years, the US has refused to acknowledge the gains it has made from free trade, instead portraying itself as a victim of an unfair global trading system. It no longer promotes economic globalization; on the contrary, it has increasingly become a disruptor of it.

As some scholars have pointed out, the reasons can be boiled down to three main points: first, to use the trade war as a threat to gain greater benefits; second, to shift the focus away from domestic problems; and third, to maintain its status as an economic hegemon while containing the development of other countries. 

Despite Washington's meticulous calculations, its actions run counter to both historical lessons and the tide of the times. In the 1930s, the US also imposed tariffs of over 50 percent on nearly 2,000 categories of imported foreign goods under the banner of "protecting American industries." But the result was quite the opposite: Not only did the US fall into the Great Depression, it also brought great disaster to the world. 

In 2018, under the slogan of "bringing manufacturing back," the US imposed tariffs on approximately $250 billion worth of Chinese goods. This later proved to be "the most expensive policy experiment of the 21st century." The Peterson Institute for International Economics estimated that American consumers pay about $57 billion more each year due to tariffs, resulting in a significant increase in the cost of living. It can be said that the US government, when facing difficulties, frequently resorts to protectionism in an attempt to solve internal problems through external means - but such efforts are always wishful thinking that harms both others and itself.

The US currently accounts for only 13 percent of global goods imports, a significant drop from nearly 20 percent two decades ago. This means that it is even more difficult for the US to reverse economic globalization on its own. A thought experiment by Simon Evenett, professor at the IMD Business School, shows that if the US cut off all goods imports, 70 of its trading partners would fully make up their lost sales to the US within one year, and 115 would do so within five years. The UK's Financial Times even bluntly stated that the importance of the US to global trade can be overstated. If the US positions itself against the majority of countries that uphold free trade and maintain a multilateral trading system, the ultimate outcome will not be "economic de-globalization," but rather the "de-Americanization of the world." 

In recent years, economic globalization has faced some "backward currents," but the forward momentum cannot be stopped by anyone. In the face of the tide of protectionism, the forces that uphold and promote economic globalization are also accelerating their convergence. The deepening of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the advancement of the African Continental Free Trade Area, and the enlargement of the BRICS all indicate that the forces for and against economic globalization are in a tug-of-war, but the driving forces still outweigh the resistance. The common aspiration of countries around the world today is not to completely deny and discard globalization, but to call for a more universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization. In this context, it is neither possible nor in line with the historical trend to artificially sever the flows of capital, technology, products, industries, and people among countries, or to force the vast ocean of the world economy back into isolated small lakes and rivers.

The world economy has long been deeply interconnected and it is impossible to return to a fragmented, self-contained "Robinson Crusoe economy." Any attempt to block economic laws with high walls will ultimately be swept away by the tide of globalization. 

In an era where the global economy is deeply interconnected, opportunities for development can only be nurtured by "tearing down walls" rather than "building walls," and through "handshakes" rather than "fists." Promoting the development of economic globalization in a more open, inclusive, universally beneficial, and balanced direction is a shared responsibility of the international community.