Trade war tensions rise as US tariffs on Chinese goods kick in

GENEVA: Fears of a trade war between the two largest economies in the world worsened on Thursday. The US refused to blink and will go ahead with tariffs on $34 billion of imports from China on Friday. On its part, China signalled retaliation even as it reached out, using the platform of the World Trade Organization (WTO), to forge an alliance with other member nations.

Speaking at a weekly news conference in Beijing, commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng warned that the proposed US tariffs would hit international supply chains, including foreign companies in the world’s secondlargest economy.

“China will not bow down in the face of threats and blackmail and will not falter from its determination to defend free trade and the multilateral system,” Gao said. Earlier in the week, people familiar with the development revealed that China had reached out to other WTO members to jointly fight what it described as “Washington’s flagrant violation of global trade rules”.

At a meeting of the WTO’s Goods Council, the same people quoted above quoted a Chinese diplomat as saying: “We would also call on the whole membership (of the WTO) to join us in firmly fighting against unilateralism and protectionism”.

“The acts of the US are a severe violation of the fundamental principles of the WTO, which would seriously damage the multilateral trading system and destruct the global trade order,” the Chinese official told the Council. “History tells us that if the unilateralism is unrestrained, it would bring destruction to the world economy and all members, especially the developing country members,” the Chinese official warned.

BEIJING WARNED THAT THE PROPOSED U.S. LEVY WOULD HIT GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAINS