BEIJING – China has warned that the United States that the outcome of tradetalks will be void if Washington imposes trade sanctions including tariffson Chinese goods, state media reported Sunday quoting a governmentstatement issued at the end of two-day high-level talks between Chinese andUS trade officials.
The talks were led by US Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross and ChineseVice-Premier Liu He in Beijing.
“The outcome of the talks should be based on the prerequisite that the twoparties meet each other halfway and will not engage in a trade war,”official news agency, Xinhua reported quoting from the statement.
“All economic and trade outcomes of the talks will not take effect if theUS side imposes any trade sanctions including raising tariffs,” thestatement said. “The attitude of the Chinese side remains consistent.”
China, it said, was willing to increase its quota of imports as it was partof the country’s national strategy.
“To meet the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and therequirements of high-quality economic development, China is willing toincrease imports from other countries, including the United States, whichwill benefit people of both countries and the rest of the world,” thestatement said.
The two-day talks in Beijing which ended on Sunday followed an earlierround in Washington where officials had met to discuss the situation.
“To implement the consensus reached in Washington, the two sides have hadgood communication in various areas such as agriculture and energy, andhave made positive and concrete progress while relevant details are yet tobe confirmed by both sides,” the statement said.
The two sides issued a joint statement in Washington last month, vowing tostrengthen economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.