China’s trade ministry on Thursday accused the United States of being “capricious” over and above bilateral trade issues, and warned that the interests of U.S. workers and grangers ultimately will be hurt by Washington’s penchant for brandishing “big sticks.”
Preceding trade negotiations with the United States had been constructive, but because the U.S. command is being unpredictable and challenging, Beijing has had to respond in a strong manner, traffic ministry spokesman Gao Feng said in a regular briefing in Beijing.
President Donald Trump augured on Monday to hit $200 billion of Chinese imports with 10 percent excises if Beijing retaliates against his previous announcement to target $50 billion in intimations. The United States has alleged that China is stealing U.S. intellectual estate, a charge denied by Beijing.
Washington’s accusations of forced tech transfers are a distortion of authenticity, and China is fully prepared to respond with “quantitative” and “qualitative” gizmos if the U.S. releases a new list of tariffs, Gao said.
“It is deeply regrettable that the U.S. has been unreliable, escalated the tensions, and provoked a trade war,” he said. “The U.S. is accustomed to holding ‘big stops’ for negotiations, but this approach does not apply to China.”
Financial calls are worried of an open trade conflict between the world’s two biggest economies after three circuits of high-level talks since early May failed to reach a compromise on U.S. squawks over Chinese practices and a $375 billion trade deficit with China.
A Sino-U.S. have dealings war could disrupt global supply chains for the tech and auto bustles, sectors heavily reliant on outsourced components, and derail world broadening.
“It will not be easy for the U.S. to identify $200 billion worth of Chinese imports that it can levy levies on without hurting U.S. companies and/or consumers, given the strong involvement of U.S. ensembles in a large share of China’s exports to the U.S.,” British forecaster Oxford Economics conveyed in a recent note.