China urges U.S. to make 'wise choice' ahead of tariffs
decision
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[June 14, 2018]
By Michael Martina and David Lawder
BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China urged
the United States on Thursday to make a "wise decision" on trade, saying
it was ready to respond in case Washington chose confrontation, as U.S.
President Donald prepares to decide whether to activate tariffs on
Chinese goods.
Trump is due to unveil revisions to his initial tariff list targeting
$50 billion of Chinese goods on Friday. People familiar with the
revisions said the list would be slightly smaller than the original,
with some goods deleted and others added, particularly in the technology
sector.
Another administration official said a draft document showed the new
list would still be close to $50 billion, with about 1,300 product
categories, but both the dollar amount and quantity of products were
still subject to change.
Speaking to reporters in Beijing, with U.S. Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo at his side, the Chinese government's top diplomat State
Councillor Wang Yi said there were two choices when it came to the trade
issue.

"The first choice is cooperation and mutual benefit. The other choice is
confrontation and mutual loss. China chooses the first," Wang said. "We
hope the U.S. side can also make the same wise choice. Of course, we
have also made preparations to respond to the second kind of choice."
The move toward activating U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods follows
negotiations between U.S. and Chinese officials centered on increased
purchases by Beijing of American farm and energy commodities and cutting
the U.S. trade deficit with China.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross this month met Chinese officials in
Beijing and brought back a Chinese proposal to buy around $70 billion
worth of additional commodities and manufactured goods. But that offer
has not been accepted by Trump, people familiar with the matter said.
Wang said a basic consensus reached by the two countries during the
recent talks was a pact to use "constructive means" to handle
disagreements.
"We hope the U.S. side can meet China halfway and earnestly implement
this important consensus, and promote the appropriate resolution of the
relevant issue through a win-win and not lose-lose manner," he said.
"In this process, we hope the U.S. side does not unilaterally take any
non-constructive actions, and does not create new obstacles for the next
phase of consultations."
Pompeo said the U.S. deficit with China was still too high, but that
they had had good talks.
"I stressed how important it is for President Trump to rectify that
situation so that trade becomes more balanced, more reciprocal and more
fair, with the opportunity to have American workers be treated fairly.
We had good and constructive discussions."
MOVE COULD COME FRIDAY
It remains unclear when Trump would activate the tariffs, if he decides
to do so. Several industry lobbyists told Reuters they expected the move
to come as early as Friday, with publication of a Federal Register
notice, or it could be put off until next week.
[to top of second column] |

U.S. President Donald Trump is pictured during a meeting at the
Istana in Singapore June 11, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

If Washington adopts tariffs, Beijing is expected to hit back with its own
duties on U.S. imports, including soybeans, cars, chemicals and planes,
according to a list it released in early April.
Under the 1974 trade law that Trump invoked to pursue a tariff investigation
into China's intellectual property practices, he could delay the activation by
30 days. He can also delay the tariffs by another 180 days if the U.S. Trade
Representative's office finds negotiations with China are yielding progress.
"The president's trade team has recommended tariffs. If there are not tariffs,
it will be because the president has decided that he's not ready to implement
tariffs," a person familiar with the administration's deliberations told
Reuters.
But that recommendation came prior to Trump's trip late last week to Canada for
the G7 leaders' summit and to Singapore for talks with North Korean leader Kim
Jong Un to defuse a nuclear standoff on the Korean peninsula.
Trump returned to Washington early on Wednesday morning. In an interview aired
on Wednesday, Trump told Fox News that he was "very strongly clamping down on
trade" with China.
Asked how strong, Trump said: "Well, I think very strongly. I mean you’ll see
over the next couple of weeks. They understand what we are doing."
Trump did not specifically mention the tariffs and added that he had "a very
good relationship with President Xi (Jinping) of China."
The administration's trade hawks, including U.S. Trade Representative Robert
Lighthizer and White House trade and manufacturing adviser Peter Navarro, have
advocated a tougher approach to address U.S. allegations that China has
misappropriated American intellectual property through joint venture
requirements, state-backed acquisitions of U.S. technology firms and outright
theft.

Amid the rising trade tension, China's commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng said
Chinese exporters have been front-loading their shipments due to changes in the
international trade environment.
(This story has been refiled to insert dropped word "to" in headline)
(Additional reporting by David Shepardson in WASHINGTON; Writing by Ben
Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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