BEIJING – China on Monday lashed out at US “economic intimidation”following President Donald Trump’s announcement of new import tariffs, butsaid it was open to negotiations to resolve trade frictions.
The two countries have traded threats and heated rhetoric in recent days,ratcheting up fears that the world’s two biggest economies are headingtowards a damaging trade war.
Trump said last Thursday that the United States would impose new tariffs onsome $60 billion of Chinese imports over the “theft” of intellectualproperty, rattling global financial markets.
Vice President Mike Pence boasted the measures mean that the “era ofeconomic surrender is over”.
Asked about the remarks, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunyingtold a press briefing on Monday that “it would have been more appropriateto say that it’s time to stop the US’s economic intimidation and hegemony”.
Beijing has not stood idle. On Friday, it unveiled a list of $3 billionworth of US goods, including pork, fruits and wine, that could be targetedwith tariffs in retaliation for steel and aluminium tariffs — ifnegotiations fail.
“We also have the confidence and the capacity to safeguard our legitimateand legal interests, whatever the circumstances,” Hua said. “Now the ballis in the US court.”
*Trade negotiations*
While the two sides have traded barbs in public, US and Chinese officialshave begun behind-the-scenes negotiations to improve American access to theAsian country’s huge market, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“We keep saying that the Chinese side is willing to negotiate with the USto properly manage divergences, on the basis of mutual respect and equalmutual benefits,” Hua said when asked about the report.
“Our door is always wide open to dialogue and consultation.”
The Wall Street Journal said the discussions — led by China’s economic”czar” Liu He, US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and US traderepresentative Robert Lighthizer — cover topics including manufacturingand financial services, citing anonymous sources close to the issue.
Mnuchin and Lighthizer sent Liu a letter last week spelling out requestsincluding greater US access to China’s financial sector, the reduction ofChinese tariffs on US vehicles and for China to increase its USsemiconductor purchases.
Speaking on Fox News Sunday, the US treasury secretary said “we’re workingon a pathway to see if we can reach an agreement as to what fair trade isfor them.”
“I am cautiously hopeful we reach an agreement, but if not we areproceeding with these tariffs.”
China’s official Xinhua news agency said at the weekend that Liu, a Xi aidewho was promoted to the post of vice premier earlier this month, toldMnuchin on Saturday that Beijing was “ready to defend its nationalinterests”, but both “agreed to continue to communicate”.
China is not the only country facing Trump’s ire over trade.
Trump on Thursday authorised the suspension of the controversial tariffs onsteel and aluminium imports from key trade partners including the EuropeanUnion, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and South Korea — butonly until May 1.
Seoul, a major US ally in Asia, said on Monday that it has agreed toconcessions with the United States to escape the steel duties and to securea revised trade deal that Trump has repeatedly threatened to tear up.APP/AFP