China and the US are an important part of the global economy. China and the US can cooperate, but great effort and time will be needed for negotiations.

The ZTE crisis has shocked China by revealing its vulnerability to foreign countries in advanced technologies. Even though the U.S. is fully justified to punish a Chinese company for violating the rules, it should take into account that if it is perceived as exploiting China's dependence, it could face further difficulties in making progress in other fields, such as reducing China's market barriers.

How China and the U.S. can strike a new deal.

Chinese FDI transactions dropped by over a third in 2017 as Beijing imposed restrictions over outbound investment and Washington toughened screening of high-tech acquisitions.

At its core, the current flare up in U.S.-China trade relations is only the latest episode in a long-running rivalry between the two sides in science and technology. Washington should take the present climate as an opportunity to engage China in a constructive way and look inward for ways to shore up its own tech sector.

Following two years of decline, in 2017 the US exported more goods to China than ever before – nearly $128 billion – making it the third largest market for goods exports, after Canada and Mexico.

The US should stop resorting to unilaterialism and protectionism on trade issues. In this way the economic cooperation between China, the United States, and other countries can be further consolidated and developed.

Overturning the trade deficit is only an excuse: what Trump and his administration are aiming to achieve is to terminate the progress of the “Made in China 2025” initiative and eventually, to delay the development of China’s high-tech industries.

What is needed now between China and the U.S. is better negotiation between both parties and a lot more goodwill, particularly on the part of the U.S. Basic education about how trade works is also essential for the Trump White House, which appears to have confused trade deficits with real economic losses.

To stop the trade friction from inflicting broader pain on bilateral ties, China and the United States must make their strategic intentions clear.