John Quelch, executive vice chancellor of Duke Kunshan University, has criticized U.S. policymakers for their "short-sighted" tariff war strategy, emphasizing that cross-border trade and investment are vital for maintaining global peace.
Quelch said that Washington launched the tariff war under the assumption that the U.S. economy could withstand the impact better than its trading partners -- an assumption he believes overlooks the broader economic realities.
"Policymakers in the White House regard a tariff war as a zero-sum game and they believe that the tariffs can inflict more pain on China than the U.S. will suffer in a bilateral tariff war. The policymakers also look at the percentage of GDP accounted for by international trade and in the case of the United States, it's 25 percent. In the case of China, it's 35 percent. The U.S, although it is a very strong player internationally, is actually a self sufficient economy, and doesn't rely so much on international trade. And that leads some of these policymakers to myopically believe that they can win a tariff war," he said.
Quelch further emphasized that such thinking ignores basic economic principles.
"When in actuality, 95 percent of economists I think would argue that the law of comparative advantage means that different countries should be doing what different countries can do best. And of course, the growth of trade and cross-border investment in the last 60-70 years has been an important to guaranteeing world peace because of the interactions and the cross-border investments of different countries," he said.
Expert slams U.S. policymakers' pursuit of "short-sighted" tariff war strategy
The Sanya branch of the Peking University (PKU) Hospital of Stomatology based in the tourist resort city of Sanya in south China's tropical Hainan Province -- the country's first national-level regional dental specialty center -- officially opened on Saturday, providing local residents and tourists with access to top-tier dental care without leaving Hainan.
As a key city in the Hainan Free Trade Port and a hub for both tourism and wellness, Sanya has seen rising demand for oral healthcare. Local resources, however, have long been strained.
The newly launched hospital aims to ease the situation. Both its management and medical teams come directly from the main campus of the PKU Hospita of Stomatology in Beijing, ensuring seamless integration and unified standards across diagnoses, treatment, and service quality. The facility comprises of nine specialized buildings, including an emergency outpatient complex and an international medical services building, covering all sub-specialties in dental medicine.
"Since the official start of Hainan Free Trade Port's island-wide special customs operations [on December 18, 2025], the very first zero-tariff items entering the region were advanced dental equipment for our hospital. This enables a wide range of patients in the Hainan region to access the world's latest dental treatment equipment and technology more quickly," said Deng Xuliang, president of the PKU Hospital of Stomatology.
Looking ahead, the main campus of the PKU Hospital of Stomatology will collaborate with medical universities in Hainan to jointly train more specialized professionals for grassroots-level healthcare institutions across the region. Through technical mentorship and integrated training programs, the initiative aims to leverage the policy advantages of the free trade port to build a high-level, comprehensive platform that integrates medical services, education, research, public health, and healthcare management, with particular attention on international patient services and comfort-focused treatment.
"The operation of medical care plus health and wellness programs and of medical care plus tourism projects has jointly contributed to the formation of an internationalized medical care platform in Sanya, which presents a major opportunity for both Sanya and the rest of Hainan, especially as the free trade port enters full operation, making more duty-free medicines and medical devices available locally," said Hu Yulei, director of the Sanya Municipal Health Commission.
Hainan's Sanya opens first national dental specialty center
