China warns ‘capricious’ trade actions will hurt US workers
BEIJING: China's Commerce Ministry yesterday accused the US of being "capricious" over bilateral trade issues and warned that the interests of US workers and farmers ultimately will be hurt by Washington's penchant for brandishing "big sticks".
Previous trade negotiations with the US had been constructive, but because the US government is being unpredictable and challenging, Beijing has had to respond in a strong manner, Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said in a regular briefing in Beijing.
US President Donald Trump threatened on Monday to hit US$200 billion (S$272 billion) of Chinese imports with 10 per cent tariffs if Beijing retaliates against his previous announcement to target US$50 billion in imports.
Washington's accusations of forced tech transfers are a distortion of reality, and China is fully prepared to respond with "quantitative" and "qualitative" tools if the US releases a new list of tariffs, Mr Gao said.
"It is deeply regrettable that the US has been capricious, escalated the tensions and provoked a trade war," he said.
BIG STICKS
"The US is accustomed to holding 'big sticks' for negotiations, but this approach does not apply to China."
Markets are worried of an open trade conflict between the world's two biggest economies after high-level talks since last month failed to reach a compromise on US complaints over Chinese practices and a US$375 billion trade deficit with China.
A Sino-US trade war could disrupt global supply chains for the tech and auto industries, sectors heavily reliant on outsourced components, and derail world growth.
"It will not be easy for the US to identify US$200 billion worth of Chinese imports that it can levy tariffs on without hurting US companies and/or consumers, given the strong involvement of US companies in a large share of China's exports to the US," British forecaster Oxford Economics said in a recent note. - REUTERS
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