China commits to trade talks amid ‘groundless’ Huawei suspicions

Beijing is committed to striking a trade deal with the U.S. but it’s ready to respond with more countermeasures, said Chinese envoy Cui Tiankai, as he called the blacklisting of Huawei an “unusual” act of state power against a company.

Cui said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Friday that China wants to continue working toward a trade agreement for U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to finalize. There’s no official discussions about a meeting between the two leaders, said Cui, the Chinese ambassador to the U.S.

The two sides should have cooperation and collaboration, he said, adding that “trade is about mutual benefits, war is about mutual destruction. How can you put these two very different concepts in one term?”

Trade talks between Beijing and Washington stalled this month as Trump accused China of backing out of a deal that the U.S. said was almost completed. In response, Trump hiked the tariff rate on US$200 billion in Chinese imports.

The U.S. also released a list of about US$300 billion in Chinese goods that could face additional tariffs, including clothing, toys and mobile phones.

If Trump follows through on that threat, U.S. levies imposed since last year would cover essentially all imports from the Asian nation.

There are signs the trade conflict is spilling over into other areas, especially technology. The Trump administration last week placed Huawei Technologies Co. on an export blacklist, choking off China’s biggest technology company from its U.S. suppliers.

Cui said the accusations against Huawei are a “groundless suspicion” and he described the U.S. action as an “unusual” move that mobilizes “state power against a private company.”