China has hit out at countries that make trade agreements with the US at Beijing’s expense, vowing countermeasures against those who “appease” Washington.
A spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Monday that “appeasement” will not bring peace to the deteriorating trade war between the two largest economies in the world.
While the US has imposed a %10 percent tariff on the rest of the world, it has put a staggering %145 duty on many Chinese products. China has responded with duties of 125 percent on US goods.
In recent weeks, a number of countries, including China’s neighbors, Japan and South Korea, have tried to reach new economic agreements with the US, which according to China will come to fruition at its expense.
Finance and trade ministers from South Korea, a major exporter to the US, will hold high-level trade talks in Washington this week, Seoul said.
South Korean giants such as Samsung Electronics and auto maker Hyundai will suffer significant financial loss if the US administration decides to impose its tariffs on the country.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Saturday that talks between Japan and the US could be a “model for the world,” after Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s minister in charge of economic revitalization, visited Washington and met Trump last week.
But China has warned countries not to seek agreements with the US that compromise China’s economic interests.
“China firmly opposes any party reaching a deal at the expense of China’s interests,” added the spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce.
“If such a situation occurs, China will never accept it and will resolutely take reciprocal countermeasures,” they added.
Trump said on Thursday that the US has held talks with China on tariffs, and added that he was confident the world’s largest economies could reach an agreement to end the trade war.
“Yeah, we’re talking to China … I would say they have reached out a number of times,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
China has vowed to fight the trade war “to the end” and has not confirmed that it held talks with the US, though it has called for dialogue.
It has condemned what it calls “unilateralism and protectionism” by the US and warned that the trade war could force the “law of the jungle” on the international order.