CHONGQING, June 4 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-initiated trade friction and escalation will damage the global trade order and bring losses rather than gains, according to political figures in Chongqing to attend a Belt and Road forum.

Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said trade protectionism would impact the whole world and expose the global economy, which is in recovery, to new problems.

The economic development of many countries depends on China and the United States, which are two of the world's largest economies, he said.

The trade friction harms global trade order and global economic governance, he said at the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum for Interconnected Land-Sea Development, held in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality from Sunday to Tuesday.

For a long time, the world has benefited from a multilateral trade system, but U.S. unilateralism and anti-free trade has unsettled the whole world, said Artem Semenov, a member of the central committee of the United Russia Party.

There is no winning party in trade friction, said Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong. No one wins from unilateralism and protectionism.

Marko Djuric, vice president of the Serbian Progressive Party, said resorting to unilateral sanctions and imposing trade tariffs run contrary to the principles of cooperation and free trade.

Such actions ignore the fact that it is the very international trade and equality-based cooperation as advocated by China that has helped reduce poverty, and improved the quality of lives of people in a way that was unimaginable in previous generations, he said.

"It is precisely in times of such challenges that we have to be more than ever dedicated to cooperation, peace, respect for international law and rules, and strive to build harmonious international economic and political relations," Djuric said.

Participants at the forum reached a broad consensus on land and sea development under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

More than 200 people, including around 150 foreign political figures, scholars, and representatives from the business community from countries including France, Russia, Spain, Cambodia and Tanzania attended the forum.