China lashed out at the US on Tuesday after President Trump demanded that Beijing rescind its retaliatory tariffs or face a further 50 p.c U.S. levy, calling his menace “blackmail,” as tensions between the 2 main powers rose.
The Ministry of Commerce, with out referring to the American president by identify, stated that Beijing had famous that the US had threatened to impose an additional 50 p.c tariff on China. It stated that Beijing would take countermeasures to safeguard its pursuits.
“The U.S. menace to escalate tariffs on China is a mistake on prime of a mistake, which as soon as once more exposes the blackmail nature of the US,” the ministry’s assertion stated. “China won’t ever settle for it. If the US insists by itself method, China will combat to the tip.”
China had introduced final week that it could match Mr. Trump’s tariffs by imposing a retaliatory 34 percent tax on imports from America. The latest escalation that Mr. Trump described on Monday, if imposed, may carry the U.S. tariff on Chinese language items to 104 p.c. For some merchandise, although, the speed is prone to be a lot increased due to levies that date again to Mr. Trump’s first time period. Mr. Trump additionally threatened to halt any additional negotiations.
American customers final 12 months purchased $440 billion of products from China, making it the second-largest supply of U.S. imports after Mexico. Taken collectively, it may show pricey for American importers bringing in clothes, cellphones, chemical compounds and equipment from China.
China stated that the US ought to cancel all unilateral tariffs towards China, “cease suppressing China’s economic system and commerce, and correctly resolve variations with China by means of equal dialogue on the premise of mutual respect.”
China has been attempting for months to have interaction in high-level talks with the Trump administration to attempt to lay the bottom for a possible summit between Mr. Trump and China’s prime chief, Xi Jinping. However regardless of Mr. Trump saying earlier this 12 months that he was open to partaking with Mr. Xi, Beijing has struggled to obtain a lot of a response from the White Home.
Berry Wang contributed reporting.
