Meet us in the middle, US told
China warns tariff hikes will ‘escalate trade friction’
BEIJING: China appealed to Washington to “meet each other halfway” and settle a trade war instead of going ahead with planned tariff hikes Beijing warned will trigger retaliation.
Exporters are preparing for a Sept 1 increase in US duties in a fight over trade and technology. Those are due to go ahead on more than U$100bil (RM417bil) of Chinese goods despite the Trump administration’s decision to postpone other planned increases to December.
New US tariffs will “lead to an escalation of economic and trade friction,” a Commerce Ministry spokesman, Gao Feng, said at a news briefing.
The United States is pressing China to narrow its trade surplus and roll back plans for government-led development of global competitors in robotics and other technologies. Beijing’s trading partners say those plans violate its market-opening commitments. Some officials worry they might erode US industrial leadership.
Negotiations are deadlocked over how to enforce a deal. Beijing says punitive tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on Chinese products must be lifted as soon as an agreement takes effect. Washington wants to keep some to ensure Beijing carries out any promises it makes.
“We hope the United States and China can meet each other halfway and find a solution,” Gao said.
US and Chinese negotiators are due to meet in September in Washington. The last round of talks in Shanghai in July ended with no indication of progress.
Negotiators talked by phone on Aug 13 and agreed to talk again within two weeks, Gao said.
Gao repeated a Chinese threat of unspecified “corresponding countermeasures” if Trump’s tariff hike goes ahead.
The United States has imposed 25% tariffs on US$250bil (RM1.04 trillion) of Chinese products. Beijing retaliated with its own penalties on US$110bil (RM459bil) of goods from the United States.
Trump earlier announced plans to impose 10% duties on US$300bil (RM1.25 trillion) of Chinese goods, extending penalties to almost everything China sells the United States. He later postponed the tariff hike on about 60% of those goods to Dec 15.