BEIJING: Beijing said Sunday that trade wars have “no winners” after President Donald Trump announced a further 10 percent hike on Chinese exports to the US.
“There are no winners in a trade war or tariff war,” China’s foreign ministry said, adding that the additional duties would “inevitably affect and damage future bilateral cooperation on drug control”. China said it “firmly opposes” new tariffs imposed on Beijing by US President Donald Trump, vowing to take “corresponding countermeasures to resolutely safeguard our own rights and interests”. Unveiling sweeping measures against major trade partners on Saturday, Trump announced an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports on top of existing duties.
In a statement on Sunday, China’s commerce ministry slammed Washington’s “erroneous practices”, saying Beijing was “strongly dissatisfied with this and firmly opposes it”.
The ministry said Beijing would file a lawsuit at the World Trade Organization, arguing that “the unilateral imposition of tariffs by the United States seriously violates WTO rules”.
It added that the duties were “not only unhelpful in solving the US’s own problems, but also undermine normal economic and trade cooperation”.
“China hopes that the United States will objectively and rationally view and deal with its own issues like fentanyl, rather than threatening other countries with tariffs at every turn,” the ministry said. It said Beijing “urges the US to correct its erroneous practices, meet China halfway, face up to its problems, have frank dialogues, strengthen cooperation and manage differences on the basis of equality, mutual benefit and mutual respect”.
Earlier, President Donald Trump took action Saturday to impose new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, which could have a sweeping impact on the American economy. The additional tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods will be 25 percent, although only 10 percent on Canadian energy, a White House official said. The new tariff on Chinese goods will also be 10 percent, as Trump has said for a while.
The move sets the stage for a possible North American trade war that economists say could hurt economic growth on the continent and increase inflation. The new duties take effect on Tuesday, but goods shipped before Saturday will not face the higher tax, the White House said.
The White House issued the tariffs after failing to resolve Trump’s concerns with the three countries over fentanyl trafficking, undocumented migration and the U.S. trade deficit.
Trump confirmed on Friday the tariffs were coming, telling reporters he did not believe they would boost prices.
“Tariffs don’t cause inflation. They cause success. Cause big success. So we’re going to have great success. There could be some temporary, short-term disruption, and people will understand that,” he said. –Agencies
