Trump's trade 'extortion' won't work – China state media
SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese state media on Monday lambasted US President Donald Trump’s trade policies in an unusually personal attack, and sought to reassure investors worried about China’s economy as growth concerns rattled its financial markets.
China’s strictly controlled news outlets have frequently rebuked the United States and the Trump administration as the trade conflict has escalated, but they have largely refrained from specifically targeting Trump.
The latest criticism from the overseas edition of the ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper singled out Trump, saying he was starring in his own “street fighter-style deceitful drama of extortion and intimidation.”
Trump’s desire for others to play along with his drama is “wishful thinking,” a commentary on the paper’s front page said, arguing that the United States had escalated trade friction with China and turned international trade into a “zero-sum game.”
“Governing a country is not like doing business,” the paper said, adding that Trump’s actions imperiled the national credibility of the United States.
The vitriol from the People’s Daily follows Trump’s comments on Twitter from Saturday in which he boasted that his strategy of placing steep tariffs on Chinese imports was “working far better than anyone ever anticipated” and that Beijing was now talking to the United States about trade.
Yet, a flurry of articles in Chinese state media emphasized the resilience of China’s economy and downplayed concerns about the impact of the SinoUS trade war.
“Market participants foresee a relatively stable Chinese currency in the near term, without fear of impacts from the US-China trade dispute. They expect solid economic growth momentum amid policy fine-tuning,” an article in the official English-language China Daily newspaper said, citing Chinese economists.
The nationalist Global Times, responding in an editorial late on Sunday to White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow’s remarks that China should not underestimate Trump’s resolve, said China did not fear “sacrificing short-term interests.”