The reality is that Chinese investments are creating jobs, driving economic growth, and are probably the best assurance of social stability in the U.S. at a time when factionalism among America's complex social and ethnic groups is reaching unprecedented pitch, especially because the domestic economic policy of the past years has pushed the middle class down, creating vast divides between the few rich and increasing number of poor. China is re-employing through its investments vast numbers of people marginalized in the U.S.' rust belt, those same people that voted for Trump. That is why Trump's visit to China is so critical to the U.S. administration.
To put this point in perspective, the U.S.' biggest single employer Walmart employs 1.5 million Americans, and Jack Ma, through Alibaba's investments, plans to create 1 million American jobs－which, in effect, would reduce unemployment by 14 percent.
So who needs a trade war?
Stephen Orlins, president of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, underscored this point when he recently said: "The data overwhelmingly suggests Chinese investment in the U.S. is complimentary to the current administration's focus on creating and protecting jobs."
A number of the company CEOs accompanying U.S. president will use his visit to China as a platform to announce extensive business deals that will allow Trump to emphasize that he has pursued his campaign pledge to achieve market access in China. Currently, the U.S.' goods' and services' deficit with China is around $310 billion, but in 2015, China accounted for some 22 percent of all U.S. imports. So the reality on this trip is that Trump needs good relations with China, not least because over the next 20 years China is expected to buy about $1.1 trillion worth of airplanes, effectively subsidizing Boeing and the state of Washington, which is divided sharply between Democrat voters in its main coastal cities and Republicans in its agricultural hinterland. These are the kinds of facts that underscore Trump's visit, and his longer-term political considerations.
Positive signals have already come from China. Only one week after the conclusion of the 19th Party Congress and just one week before Trump's visit to Beijing, Xi received a delegation of American CEOs from Silicon Valley, including Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Apple's Tim Cook, as part of a prestigious Tsinghua University advisory board.
The message is crystal clear: socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era means China is open for business, especially when it means technology, clean energy and smart infrastructure. But this time the investment may be going from China to the U.S., rather than the other way around. Trump will have a hard time slapping high tariffs on Chinese imports if he wants to live up to his campaign promise to upgrade the U.S.' infrastructure, transport systems and airports, because he will need China to do it for him.
The author, Laurence Brahm, is a senior fellow at the Center for China and Globalization.
