Trade agreements must be two-way balanced, equal and mutually beneficial: spokesperson

Trade agreements between China and the United States must be two-way balanced, equal and mutually beneficial, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday.

Spokesperson Lu Kang made the remarks in response to media reports that U.S. President Donald Trump said that any deal could not be "50-50" between China and the U.S., and it had to be more in favor of the United States because of past trade practices by China.

"The two concepts of '50-50' and 'more in favor of' are not the same thing in trade relations," Lu said.

The spokesperson said it was unrealistic to require two economies to be absolutely reciprocal and open in trade practice. Moreover, economic globalization itself is a process for countries to complement each other's advantages and supply each other’s needs.

"Mutually beneficial trade should mean the overall reciprocity and balance of interests in market opening across all industries," Lu said, adding that it was unscientific and unprofessional to simply think the United State was "suffering losses" in China-U.S. trade relations.