China calls off US trade talks until after mid-term elections

China has called off planned trade talks with the US and is unlikely to sit down with Washington until after the mid-term elections, according to Bloomberg.

Beijing has withdrawn a planned delegation to Washington this week, sources said. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that China had scrapped plans to send vice-premier Liu He and a mid-level delegation.

In addition to new tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods set to go into effect on Monday, the US State Department sanctions against China’s defence agency and its director last week contributed to the ultimate decision to cancel the talks.

In his push for what he calls a level playing field in dealing with China, Donald Trump slapped the new tariffs on imports from China and threatened more if Beijing retaliated. China has said it will impose levies on $60bn worth of US goods from tomorrow.

The tariffs brought “new uncertainties” to China-US negotiations, Gao Feng, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Commerce, said when answering a question last week on whether the countries would have a new round of trade talks. He used exactly the same wording the ministry used in an earlier statement.

Earlier, the Trump administration said it needs to confront China over its trading practices to defend US longterm interests even as the escalation risks causing pain for American consumers. Inaction would leave the US economy and consumers worse off over the longer run, a senior administration official said on Friday.

US industry has widely pushed back against the Trump administration’s use of tariffs to force changes to China’s economy, and companies from Walmart to Gap and Samsonite International have said they are prepared to raise prices if the new tariffs bite into their business.

Mr Trump’s biggest strike yet in a growing trade fight between the world’s biggest economies will involve a 10 per cent duty being applied to $200bn of Chinese imports, which could rise to 25 per cent next year. He has threatened duties on a further $267bn of made-in-China goods, which would hit almost all other consumer products including mobile phones, shoes and clothes.

The latest round of duties comes on top of a 25 per cent tariff already imposed on about $50bn in Chinese goods, which spurred counter-tariffs from Beijing.

Mr Trump continues to hit out at China, signalling the trade war will not end any time soon.

“It’s time to take a stand on China,” he said in an interview with Fox News. ”We have no choice. It’s been a long time. They’re hurting us.”