The Coreness of High-tech Products Trade Network and Innovation: Policy Implications under the Sino-US Trade Conflict

International trade of high-tech products is increasingly embodied in the network structure. Using coreness as an index to measure each country’s position in the international trade network, we examine the impact of a country’s position in the high-tech products trade network on its innovation and the corresponding influencing mechanism. We theoretically derive that, due to network market power, a country with higher coreness has not only more acquisition of innovation funds through international value transfer, but also better innovation performance by dominating the division of production and innovation. We empirically validate the theoretical result, and further reveal the role of the multilateral trade system in the theorized mechanism by using the 2008 financial crisis as a quasi-natural experiment. Our findings from the network perspective have important implications for policy-makers addressing issues under the Sino-US trade conflict.