‘Beijing ready to defend interest’

China’s newly-appointed economic czar told US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Saturday that Beijing is ready to defend its interests after President Donald Trump announced plans to slap tariffs on nearly $50 billion Chinese imports.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He told Mnuchin in a phone call the order Trump signed Thursday violates international trade rules, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The White House says the planned tariffs are aimed at punishing Beijing for allegedly stealing American technology and pressuring US companies to hand it over.

Xinhua cited Liu as saying that China is “ready and capable of defending its national interest and hopes both sides will remain rational.”

On Friday, China said it plans to raise tariffs on a $3 billion list of US goods including pork, apples and steel pipes in response to the steel and aluminum duties earlier announced by Trump.

The Chinese move appeared to be warning shot aimed at increasing domestic US pressure on Trump by making clear which exporters, including farm areas that voted for the president in 2016, might be hurt.

On Friday, American farmers from hog producers in Iowa to apple growers in Washington state and winemakers in California expressed deep disappointment over being put in the middle of a potential trade war with China by the president many of them helped elect.

China’s Commerce Ministry said Friday Beijing was considering a tariff increase of 25 percent on pork and aluminum scrap, mirroring Trump’s 25 percent charge on steel. A second list of goods including wine, apples, ethanol and stainless steel pipe would be charged 15 percent, mirroring Trump’s tariff hike on aluminum.

Overall, the nation’s farmers shipped nearly $20 billion of goods to China in 2017. The American pork industry sent $1.1 billion in products, making China the No. 3 market for US pork.

“No one wins in these tit-fortat trade disputes, least of all the farmers and the consumers,” said National Pork Producers Council President Jim Heimerl, a pig farmer from Johnstown, Ohio.