China yesterday appealed to the US to meet it halfway to salvage a deal that could end their trade dispute, with its chief negotiator in Washington for two days of talks hoping to stave off US tariff increases set to go into effect today.
The two sides had appeared to be converging on a deal until last weekend, when US President Donald Trump announced his intention to hike tariffs, with his negotiators saying that China was backtracking on earlier commitments.
“The US side has given many labels recently: ‘backtracking,’ ‘betraying,’ etc... China sets great store on trustworthiness and keeps its promises, and this has never changed,” Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng (高峰) told reporters in Beijing yesterday.
Photo: Reuters
Speaking to supporters at a rally in Florida on Wednesday, Trump said that China “broke the deal,” and vowed not to back down on imposing new tariffs on Chinese imports unless Beijing “stops cheating our workers.”
A protracted trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies would be damaging for global economic growth, and investors have this week pulled their money out of stock markets as fears that the prospective agreement was unraveling.
Gao said the decision to send the delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He (劉鶴) to Washington, despite the tariff threat, demonstrated China’s “utmost sincerity.”
“We hope the US can meet China halfway, take care of each others’ concerns and resolve existing problems through cooperation and consultations,” Gao said.
It is normal to have disagreements during a negotiating process, he said, urging the US to resist taking unilateral action, while warning that China was fully prepared to defend its interests.
“China’s attitude has been consistent and China will not succumb to any pressure,” Gao said. “China has made preparations to respond to all kinds of possible outcomes.”
The US Trade Representative’s office said that tariffs on US$200 billion of Chinese goods would rise from 10 percent to 25 percent at 12:01am today.
The tariffs would target chemicals, building materials, furniture and some consumer electronics, among other goods.
Trump on Sunday also threatened to levy tariffs on an additional US$325 billion of China’s goods, on top of the US$250 billion of its products already hit by import taxes.
Since July last year, China has cumulatively imposed its own tariffs of up to 25 percent on about US$110 billion of US products.
It last levied tariffs, of 5 percent to 10 percent, on US$60 billion of US goods including liquefied natural gas and small aircraft in September last year.
Based on US Census Bureau trade data for last year, China would only have about US$10 billion in US imports left to levy in retaliation for any future US tariffs, including crude oil and large aircraft.
Gao did not answer directly when asked if China would consider imposing tariffs on imported US services.
While Washington wants to reduce the scale of its trade deficit with China, it is also seeking stronger protection for US firms’ intellectual property and more market access in China for US companies.
Gao described accusations about Chinese firms stealing tech secrets as unreasonable and said that they were not based on facts.
While China’s overall economic growth has this year remained steady, the outlook for exporters has been challenging.
Exports unexpectedly declined last month, with some analysts attributing the drop to slumping shipments to the US.
US-bound shipments last month fell more than 13 percent, official data released this week showed.
However, imports from the US decreased by even more — falling almost 26 percent — widening China’s trade surplus with the US.
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