China is reaching out to other nations as the US layers on more tariffs, in what appears to be an attempt by Beijing to form a united front to compel Washington to retreat.
Days into the effort, it is meeting only partial success from countries unwilling to ally with the main target of US President Donald Trump’s trade war.
Facing the cratering of global markets, Trump on Wednesday backed off his tariffs on most nations for 90 days, saying countries were lining up to negotiate more favorable conditions.
Photo: AP
China has refused to seek talks, saying the US was insincere and that it would “fight to the end” in a tariff war, prompting Trump to further jack up the tax rate on Chinese imports to 125 percent. China has retaliated with tariffs on US goods of 84 percent, which took effect yesterday.
Trump’s move was seemingly an attempt to narrow what had been an unprecedented trade war between the US and most of the world to a showdown between the US and China.
China has thus far focused on Europe, with a phone call between Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強) and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen “sending a positive message to the outside world.”
Photo: AFP
The two are each other’s largest trading partners.
“China is willing to work with the EU to jointly implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of China and the EU, strengthen communication and exchanges, and deepen China-EU trade, investment and industrial cooperation,” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
That was followed by a video conference between Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao (王文濤) and EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic on Tuesday to discuss the US’ “reciprocal” tariffs.
Wang said the tariffs “seriously infringe upon the legitimate interests of all countries, seriously violate WTO rules, seriously damage the rules-based multilateral trading system and seriously impact the stability of the global economic order,” Xinhua said.
“It is a typical act of unilateralism, protectionism and economic bullying,” Wang was quoted as saying.
“China is willing to resolve differences through consultation and negotiation, but if the US insists on its own way, China will fight to the end,” Wang said.
Wang has also spoken with the 10-member ASEAN, while Li has met with business leaders.
China has “already made a full evaluation and is prepared to deal with all kinds of uncertainties, and will introduce incremental policies according to the needs of the situation,” Xinhua quoted Li as saying.
Not all countries are interested in linking up with China, especially those with a history of disputes with Beijing.
“We speak for ourselves, and Australia’s position is that free and fair trade is a good thing,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters.
“We engage with all countries, but we stand up for Australia’s national interest and we stand on our own two feet,” he added.
China imposed a series of official and unofficial trade barriers against Australia in 2020 after then-Australian prime minister Scott Morrison’s government angered Beijing by calling for an independent inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic.
India has also reportedly turned down a Chinese call for cooperation, and Russia, typically seen as China’s closest geopolitical partner, has been left out of the Trump tariffs altogether.
Yet, Southeast Asian nations such as Vietnam and Cambodia find themselves in a particular bind. They benefited when factories moved to their countries from China due to rising costs. They are being hit by punishing tariffs, but have few buyers outside the US and are already operating on razor-thin margins.
Trump had previously denied contemplating a pause, but the drama over his tariffs would continue as the administration prepares to engage in country-by-country negotiations.
Meanwhile, tariffs would be 10 percent for the countries where the larger ones were paused.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘POINT OF NO RETURN’: The Caribbean nation needs increased international funding and support for a multinational force to help police tackle expanding gang violence The top UN official in Haiti on Monday sounded an alarm to the UN Security Council that escalating gang violence is liable to lead the Caribbean nation to “a point of no return.” Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Haiti Maria Isabel Salvador said that “Haiti could face total chaos” without increased funding and support for the operation of the Kenya-led multinational force helping Haiti’s police to tackle the gangs’ expanding violence into areas beyond the capital, Port-Au-Prince. Most recently, gangs seized the city of Mirebalais in central Haiti, and during the attack more than 500 prisoners were freed, she said.
RSS