China urges calm after US proposes tariff hike

BEIJING FIRM AS YUAN’S YEAR-TO-DATE LOSS TO DOLLAR TOPS 4.5%

China yesterday urged the United States to “calm down” and return to reason after the Trump administration sought to ratchet up pressure for trade concessions by proposing a higher 25 per cent tariff on $200 billion (Dh734.50 billion) worth of Chinese imports.

US trade representative Robert Lighthizer said on Wednesday that the US President Donald Trump directed the increase from a previously proposed 10 per cent duty because China has refused to meet US demands and has imposed retaliatory tariffs.

Trump’s threats of higher tariffs weighed on China’s financial markets. But WangYi, the Chinese government’s top diplomat, said US efforts to pressure China would be in vain, urging its trade policymakers to “calm down”.

“We hope that those directly involved in the United States’ trade policies can calm down, carefully listen to the voices of US consumers ... and hear the collective call of the international community,” Wang, a member of the country’s state council, or cabinet, said in Singapore.

“The United States’ method of adding pressure will not, I’m afraid, have any effect,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a regional forum.

The Chinese yuan also ticked lower against the dollar, extending its year-to-date decline to more than 4.5 per cent.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang reiterated at a regular news briefing in Beijing that the United States’ efforts at “blackmail” would fail.

Trump has ultimately threatened tariffs on more than $500 billion in Chinese goods, covering virtually all US imports.