By Zhong Sheng, People’s Daily

At a ceremony commemorating the 30th anniversary of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on April 10, participants from around the world converged to pronounce a stark verdict: the rule-based multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core is under growing strains and must be defended against mounting unilateral tariffs and rampant uncertainties – much of it stemming from U.S. trade actions.

The U.S.aggressive abuse of tariffs has sparked sharp criticism worldwide. It is widely believed that the U.S. is flouting WTO rules by weaponizing tariffs as a tool of extreme pressure for selfish gain, which severely undermines the rule-based multilateral trading system and poses a grave threat to the stability of the global economic order.

For decades, America stood as a principal architectand indisputable beneficiaryof the rules-based global trade order. Yet in recent years, the U.S. government has transitioned from guardian to saboteur.

In a recent article titled “America’s Big Trade Win,” WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealarevealed a data-driven reality that Washington deliberately ignores: the U.S. is a clear winner in global trade, particularly, in the booming sector of trade in services. The country consistently posts surpluses in services trade, rakes in billions of intellectualproperty royalties and licensing fees, and remains a magnet for global capital flows. These streams of revenue are central pillars of U.S. economic strength, fueling growth, innovation, and global influence. So, the claim that the U.S. is being “ripped off” is unfounded.

In recent years, the U.S. has increasingly indulged in unilateralism and protectionism, arbitrarily wielding tariffs and trampling on international rules with its bullying practices.

The consequences are already becoming visible. WTO estimates that the new tariff measures, coupled with those introduced since the beginning of the year, could lead to an overall contraction of around 1 percent in global merchandise trade volumes in 2025, which represents a drop of nearly four percentage points from previous projections. The International Monetary Fund also cautioned that the tariff measures “clearly represent a significant risk” to global growth at a time when economic momentum remains weak.

More importantly, the U.S. growing reliance on “tariff blackmail” runs counter to the shared interests of the international community, and more seriously, places a disproportionate burden on vulnerable economies and the least developed countries.

For a long time, the rule-based multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core has provided open, stable, and predictable institutional guarantees for countries – especially developing nations – to participate in economic globalization on more equitable terms and achieve common development. Its erosion risks widening the global development gap.

UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan noted that the trade turbulence “hurts the vulnerable and the poor.”The New York Times reportedthat imposing high tariffs on the least developed countries illustrates the stupidity and cruelty of the U.S. new trade policy.

A rule-based multilateral trading system is more than a framework for global economic order – it is a cornerstone of global stability. History offers a stark warning: in the 1930s, the U.S. Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act ignited a global trade war that plunged the world economy into the mire of the Great Depression. Nearly a century later, the echoes are unsettlingly familiar.

As the U.S. once again turns to tariffs as a policy tool, the international community faces a critical juncture. The time has come to unite in defense ofthe international system with the UN at its core and the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its center.

In recent days, a chorus of criticism has grown louder as countries and regions across the globe are increasingly condemning the U.S. for its escalating use of unilateral tariffs. They argue the U.S. tariff measures not only disrupt international trade order but also destabilize global industrial and supply chains, putting at risk the livelihoods of producers and consumers worldwide – including those in the United States.

These voices have exposed the hypocrisy of so-called “fair trade” preached by the U.S. while underscoring the global consensus on the need to defend multilateralism and uphold principles of fairness and justice.

As a responsible major country, China has always been a staunch defender of the multilateral trading system. China has consistently maintained that there is no winner in trade and tariff wars. China does not want to fight trade and tariff wars, but will not flinch when a trade and tariff war comes. It will never sit idly by and watch while the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese people are infringed, nor will it sit idly by as international trade rules and the multilateral trading system are undermined.

China stands ready to work with all countries to uphold true multilateralism, effectively safeguard the multilateral trading system, build an open world economy, and inject greater certainty and stability into global development.

By Zhong Sheng, People’s Daily

“How much more will we pay when tariffs hit?”

This is the question ricocheting across U.S.newsrooms and households alike, as American consumers brace for price hikes and product shortages. With inflation fears mounting, somehave even begun stockpiling daily essentials. These concerns come from America’s growing appetite for economic extremism.

The U.S. side’s reliance on punitive tariffs and economic coercion not only runs counter to economic laws, but also threatens to dismantle the intricate global industrial and supply chains painstakingly built over decades. Such moves hamper economic development worldwide and, more importantly, jeopardize the wellbeing of people in all countries, including those in the U.S.

The modern global industrial and supply chains were not imposed by fiat. It evolved organically, shaped by comparative advantages of different nations and the natural flow of capital, labor, and innovation across global markets. China and the U.S., with different development stages, distinct industrial structures and complementary strengths, have grown increasingly intertwined. This economic relationship is forged over decades of market competition, proving to be the most efficient system in the global economy.

China’s recently released white paper, “China’s Position on Some Issues Concerning China-U.S. Economic and Trade Relations,”presents a compelling case for the positive impact of this cooperation. It demonstrates how this partnership has facilitated the upgrading of American industries and brought tangible benefits to American consumers.

The U.S. has imported from China a large quantity of consumer goods, intermediate goods, and capital goods, which has supported the development of the supply and industrial chains of the U.S. manufacturing industry, provided U.S. consumers with more choices, lowered their cost of living, and increased the real purchasing power of the American people – especially the low and middle-income groups.

Through cooperation with China, U.S. multinational corporations have boosted their international competitiveness by integrating the strengths of resources from both countries. China has taken on certain production processes for American enterprises, which enabled the U.S. to allocate resources such as capital to innovation and management, and focus on the development of high-end manufacturing and modern services. It has driven U.S. industry towards higher value-added and more technologically advanced sectors, reducing U.S. domestic pressure for energy consumption and environmental protection.

China-U.S. cooperation on industrial and supply chains is far from a zero-sum game, but rather a mutually beneficial and reciprocal arrangement. In 2024, the total trade volume between China and the U.S. reached $688.28 billion, a year-on-year increase of 3.7 percent. According tothe American Chamber of Commerce in China, 53 percent of U.S.companies are expected to invest more in the country through 2025.

At the 2024 China International Import Expo, U.S. companies claimed the largest exhibition area, and at the China International Supply Chain Expo, the U.S.firms were at the forefront of foreign participants in terms of exhibitor numbers. Out of Apple’s 200 major suppliers worldwide, over 80 percent have set up factories in China. Amazon’s third-party sellers count on Chinese supply chains to remain price-competitive.

These examples reflect the underlying logic of efficiency driving China-U.S.industrial and supply chain cooperation – creating broad opportunities for stakeholders across the globe. This collaboration facilitates raw material exports, intermediate goods production, and service sector growth in other countries, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the global value chain.

However, the U.S.”tariff blackmail”is wreaking havoc on global industrial and supply chains, distortingthe allocation of resources in the global market, which hurts others as well as itself. While the goal behind these tariffs is to reshore manufacturing, the reality is far from simple. Tariffs cascadethrough industrial and supply chains, heightening the risk of fragmentation andacceleratingthe hollowing-out of the U.S. industry. Rather than revitalizing American manufacturing, this approach undermines its very foundation.

The Mechanical Engineering Industry Association based in Germany has warned that sweeping U.S. tariffs will cause serious damage on both sides of the Atlantic. These measures will never resolve bilateral trade issues but are more likely to escalate into a damaging tit-for-tat standoff that harms European exports and impedes U.S. industrial transformation.

Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator at the Financial Times, has pointed out that America is trying to undo the very system of open trade that it created. The resulting collapse in trust of the countries that used to share its values will end up very costly for the U.S., too.

Both history and reality have shown that the rules-based multilateral trading system meets the common interests of all countries, while unilateralism and protectionism undermine global industrial, supply, and value chains, and threaten the stability and development of the global economy.

In the face of shared global challenges such as sluggish global economic growth, China and the U.S., as the world’s two largest economies, must see each other’s development as opportunities rather than threats, and engage as partners, not rivals.

Both countries bear responsibility for stabilizing global industrial and supply chains. They must work together to make these systems more resilient, efficient and dynamic, so as to provide certainty and momentum to global economic development.

(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy and international affairs.)

By Yao Xueqing, People’s Daily

With a soft hum, a drone carrying a box of medicine lifted off from a pharmacy on Tianyuan West Road in Jiangning district, Nanjing, east China’s Jiangsu province. Guided by its operator, it flew eight kilometers and landed smoothly at the east gate of the Purple Mountain Laboratories, a major scitech innovation platform focusing on basic and frontier research on the internet. .

This rapid, sustained, and stable flight exemplifies the application of 6G technology in advancing smart city development and the burgeoning low-altitude economy.

6G, the sixth generation of mobile communication technology, distinguishes itself from predecessors most notably in speed. A widely cited analogy illustrates this progression: if 2G resembles an oxcart, 3G a bicycle, 4G a car, and 5G a high-speed train, 6G would equate to an airplane.

According to Huang Yongming, director of the Pervasive Communication Research Center at Purple Mountain Laboratories, the first generation of mobile communications relied on a “cellular” network architecture.In this system, base stations transmit signals to terminals within a designated coverage zones,- termed”cells” – which are typically hexagonal, giving rise to the concept of “cellular communication.”While later generations improved performance, the foundational cellular structure persisted.

In 2018, when Purple Mountain Laboratories was founded, You Xiaohu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and his team embarked on a groundbreaking mission:developing cell-free radio access network technology.

“This innovation dismantles traditional cell boundaries by synchronizing and centrally processing all information.The outcome is enhanced signal strength and coverage extended over tenfold compared to conventional cellular networks,” explained Wang Dongming, a professor at the Pervasive Communication Research Center.

For example, a delivery drone traveling eight kilometers under a 5G network would traverse nearly 20 distinct cells, requiring repeated signal handovers at each boundary. Such frequent transitions heighten disconnection risks, potentially forcing the drone to abort its mission.A cell-free network effectively resolves this challenge.

6G’s advantages extend far beyond speed.

Above the vast waters of Taihu Lakenear Xishan Island, adrone hovered in flight, conducting a 33-kilometer aerial inspection of fishery resources. Equipped with a high-definition night vision camera, infrared sensors, and custom-developed smart applications, the drone was operated autonomously – capable of taking off, landing, recharging, and 24/7 task execution – allpowered by a single base station on the island.

Last year, Purple Mountain Laboratories partnered with China Unicom and the Taihu Fishery Management Committee Officeto trial ultra-long-range cell-free communication at a lake-basedfishery conservation area. “A single station provides ten times the coverage of 5G,”explained Liu Dongjie, the project’s technical lead.

By transcending the limitations of terrestrial base stations, 6G enables seamless integrated communication across land, sea, air, and space. It also unifies communication, sensing, computing, and artificial intelligence into a cohesive system.

In January this year, Purple Mountain Laboratories collaborated with China Railway Signal & Communication Co., Ltd to conduct a “One Tower, One City” low-altitude communication test in Nujiang Lisu autonomous prefecture in southwest China’s Yunnan province.

By installing cell-free base stations on elevated infrastructure, they enabled drone-assisted forest fire monitoring, addressing persistent challenges such as exorbitant infrastructure costs and weak signal coverage in mountainous regions.

Meanwhile, along a road section between Mozhou East Road and Yougu Road in Jiangning district, three autonomous street-sweeping vehicles operated across a 21,000-square-meter area.Following predefined routes, these vehicles utilized high-definition cameras, LiDARs, and multi-sensor arrays to detect obstacles and pinpoint debris with precision.

“Thecell-freenetwork,transmits images from the sweepers to a control center, where data isprocessedand commandsare issued – all within milliseconds,” explained 6G engineer Jiang Tianxiang. The network’s stable performance and deterministic latency ensure rapid, accurate responses from the vehicles.

Globally, 6G development is transitioning from theoretical research to overcoming core technical challenges. Priorities have expanded beyond isolated technological breakthroughs to establishing a cohesive industrial ecosystem.

Experts designate 2025 as the “inaugural year of 6G standardization,”with standardization efforts projected to conclude by 2029 and preliminary commercial deployment anticipated around 2030.

“Looking ahead, 6G has great potential to revolutionize manufacturing,” said Huang. Among the many use cases, embodied intelligencestands out as a particularly transformative use case..

“Leveraging 6G’s ultra-high-speed connectivity and deterministic latency, industrial robots will achieve unprecedented agility and precision in executing intricate, high-skill operations. Future intelligent robots may even collaborate with other autonomous systems via 6G networks to accomplish complex missions,” Huang elaborated.