The Trump administration, in its latest attempt to block Chinese entry into the US market amid its ongoing trade dispute with China, is recommending that the application by China Mobile to provide telecom services in the United States be denied.

Unsurprisingly, the administration has cited national security concerns to back its decision — the same concerns the administration cites when denying the acquisition of US technology-related companies by Chinese enterprises.

As the world’s most powerful economy, the US plays a vital role in global economic and trade rule-setting and it is always able to find seemingly plausible reasons for its initiative targeting China. When it comes to trade, for instance, it claims that China adopts “unfair” trade practices that have caused the huge bilateral trade gap, ignoring the fact that the US’ trade deficit is a result of the changing global division of labor over the past decades and the low savings rate in the US.

Transit trade, which refers to goods shipped from other countries to the US via China, which is calculated by the US as imports from China, also accounts for the trade deficit figures the Trump administration cites, something it refuses to acknowledge.

The article is an abstract of China Daily's editorial published on Wednesday.