A US economist has argued that Washington and Beijing have no reason for hostility and would both gain from closer trade and manufacturing ties, in remarks to Chinese state media.
Lawrence Freeman, a US-based physical economist, told the state news agency Xinhua that the world’s two largest economies could collaborate across trade, infrastructure and industry, and that deeper partnership would steady the global economy. “Each nation benefits from the growth and development of other nations,” he said, praising what he called China’s win-win approach to foreign policy over a zero-sum mindset.
Freeman described China as the world’s leading manufacturing nation and said its decades of investment in energy and rail infrastructure had driven its growth. He argued the United States should emulate that model rather than malign it, and warned that efforts to decouple the two economies were misguided given China’s dominance of refined critical and rare earth mineral supply chains.
He also blamed American policymakers, not China, for the long decline of US industry, claiming the country has shed almost five million manufacturing jobs this century and more than 100,000 since President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025. Independent tallies vary, with federal data cited by fact-checkers indicating a loss closer to 77,000 from early 2025 through April 2026, while some congressional estimates run higher.
On Africa, Freeman said China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) had supplied vital infrastructure to the continent and other developing regions, framing physical economic growth as the route out of poverty and instability.
The interview reflects a recurring theme in Chinese state media coverage, which often elevates foreign voices supportive of Beijing’s economic record amid continuing trade friction with Washington.
