Don’t blackmail us, says China

Beijing, June 19: Beijing on Tuesday accused Donald Trump of “blackmail” and warned it would retaliate in kind after the US president threatened to impose fresh tariffs on Chinese goods, pushing the world’s two biggest economies closer to a trade war.

Trump said on Monday he had asked the US Trade Representative to target $ 200 billion worth of imports for a 10 per cent levy, citing Chin’s “unacceptable” move to raise its own tariffs.

He added he would identify an extra $ 200 billion of goods — for a possible total of $ 450 billion, or most Chinese imports — “if China increases its tariffs yet again”.

China’s commerce ministry responded by saying the US “practice of extreme pressure and blackmail departed from the consensus reached by both sides during multiple negotiations and has also greatly disappointed international society”.

“If the US acts irrationally and issues a list, China will have no choice but to take comprehensive measures of a corresponding number and quality and take strong, powerful countermeasure.”

Trump is moving forward with the measures after months of diplomacy in which Chinese offers to purchase more US goods failed to assuage his grievances.

( US) practice of extreme pressure and blackmail departed from the consensus reached by both sides during multiple negotiations and has also greatly disappointed international society — China’s commerce ministry