BEIJING – China warned Sunday that it was ready to hit back if the UnitedStates damaged its economic interests, fuelling fears of a trade war afterPresident Donald Trump unveiled tariffs on steel and aluminium.
Trump s announcement on Thursday sparked a flurry of counter-threats fromother nations. But Washington s main trade rival had avoided any overtwarnings of potential retaliation until now.
“China doesn t want a trade war with the United States,” Zhang Yesui,spokesman for the National People s Congress, told a news conference onSunday, the eve of the rubber-stamp parliament s annual session.
“But if the US takes actions that hurt Chinese interests, China will notsit idly by,” Zhang said. An official English-language interpreter addedthe phrase, “and will take necessary measures”.
Zhang warned that “policies informed by misjudgement or wrong perceptionswill hurt relations and bring consequences no side wants to see”.
Trump s announcement came as President Xi Jinping s top economic aide, LiuHe, met US officials at the White House to discuss the fraught economicrelationship.
During his visit, according to the official Xinhua news agency, Liu and hishosts “agreed that the two countries should settle their trade disputes bycooperation rather than confrontation”.
Since announcing plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and10 percent on aluminium, Trump has shrugged off threats from other nations,boasting on Friday that “trade wars are good, and easy to win”. -APP/AFP