William Mundell

Opinion | A trade deal won’t solve anything if Americans don’t understand China. This was true in 1868, and it’s still true today

US envoy Anson Burlingame brought a dramatic shift in US-China relations in the 19th century, but it was reversed within years. In 2019, even if Donald Trump gets his deal with China, the benefits might prove equally ephemeral

Reading Time:3 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

The 12,000 Chinese immigrants who worked on the Central Pacific Railroad between 1865 and 1869 were inducted into the US Department of Labor’s Hall of Honor during a ceremony attended by their descendants in Washington on May 9, 2014. The US signed an equal treaty with China in 1868, but it was replaced with the infamous Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. Photo: Xinhua

William Mundell

Published: 3:00am, 13 Apr 2019Updated: 5:26am, 13 Apr 2019

The United States’ frustration over trade relations with China boils down to one gripe: China doesn’t play fair. Yet, just over 150 years ago, the roles were reversed. Back then, it was imperial China that complained about the US not playing fair and it was the US that was on the verge of becoming the world’s largest economy.

At a critical moment in 1861, President Abraham Lincoln sent a charismatic former Congressman, Anson Burlingame, to China as his envoy. This would change history and may hold important lessons for today.

Until then, economic disputes between China and Western nations, including the US, had been resolved by force and China had been compelled to accept unfair trade agreements and territorial cessions.

Burlingame, however, led the way in fostering a so-called Cooperative Policy between China and Western powers. The US would treat China in the same peaceful manner as other nations, upholding its sovereignty and territorial integrity and agreeing not to interfere in its internal affairs.

But here we are today, and coercion is once again an instrument of US policy. In the 19th century, it was guns; in the past year, it has been economic pressure.

In a break with the policies of his predecessors, President Donald Trump imposed unilateral tariffs on China outside the framework of the World Trade Organisation.