China vows to hit back against latest tariffs
CHINA yesterday said it has to counter the latest US tariffs on US$300 billion of Chinese goods but called on the United States to meet it halfway on a potential trade deal.
The US move seriously violated the consensus reached between the Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump in Argentina and Osaka, Japan, and deviated from the right track of settling differences through consultations, an official with the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council said Thursday said, adding that China has to take necessary countermeasures.
In a separate statement, China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, “We hope the US will meet China halfway, and implement the consensus of the two heads of the two countries in Osaka.”
China hopes to find mutually acceptable solutions through dialogue and consultation on the basis of equality and mutual respect, she added.
Trump and Xi in June had agreed to restart talks after negotiations stalled earlier this year.
But earlier this month, the Trump administration said it would slap duties beginning September 1 on US$300 billion of Chinese goods, which would effectively cover all of China’s exports to the United States.
Trump backed off part of the plan this week, delaying duties on items such as cellphones, laptops and other consumer goods, in the hopes of blunting their impact on US holiday sales. Tariffs will still apply to those products starting in mid-December.
The move has roiled global markets and unnerved investors as the trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies stretches into its second year with no end in sight.
The announcement further sent global stocks sprawling on Wednesday with oil also deepening its slide over recession fears, although US stocks opened higher yesterday amid strong retail sales data.
Wall Street stocks clung to narrow gains following mixed US economic data in a choppy follow-up to the Dow’s worst session of the year.
Major US indices plunged on Wednesday after a key US bond benchmark raised recession worries amid mushrooming fears of a global slowdown due in part to the US-China trade war.
US retail sales jumped 0.7 percent in July, topping expectations and reassuring investors that US consumers remain on strong footing.
But on the downside, US manufacturing production dropped 0.4 percent during the same month, as the trade war weighed on the sector.
(Agencies)