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The trade war between the world's top two
economies heightened on Friday after Trump hiked tariffs on $200
billion worth of Chinese goods, saying China reneged on earlier
commitments made during months of negotiations.
Beijing vowed to respond to the latest U.S. tariffs. "As for the
details, please continue to pay attention. Copying a U.S.
expression - wait and see," Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng
Shuang told a daily news briefing on Monday.
Trump warned China not to intensify the trade dispute and urged
their leaders to continue working to reach a deal. "China should
not retaliate-will only get worse," he said on Twitter.
"I say openly to President Xi & all of my many friends in China
that China will be hurt very badly if you don't make a deal
because companies will be forced to leave China for other
countries," Trump wrote.
Global equities fell on Monday as hopes of an imminent trade
deal were crushed. [MKTS/GLOB] [.N]
The Republican U.S. president last week also ordered U.S. Trade
Representative Robert Lighthizer to begin imposing tariffs on
all remaining imports from China, a move that would affect an
additional $300 billion worth of goods.
Asked about the threat, Geng said: "We have said many times that
adding tariffs won't resolve any problem ... We have the
confidence and the ability to protect our lawful and legitimate
rights."
Chinese state media kept up a steady drum beat of strongly
worded commentary on Monday, reiterating that China's door to
talks was always open, but vowing to defend the country's
interests and dignity.
In a commentary, state television said the effect on the Chinese
economy from the U.S. tariffs was "totally controllable."
"It's no big deal. China is bound to turn crisis to opportunity
and use this to test its abilities, to make the country even
stronger."
Before high-level talks last week in Washington, China tried to
delete commitments from a draft agreement that Chinese laws
would be changed to enact new policies on issues from
intellectual property protection to forced technology transfers.
That dealt a major setback to negotiations.
Trump has since defended the tariff hike and said he was in
"absolutely no rush" to finalize a deal.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Sunday there
was a "strong possibility" Trump will meet Chinese President Xi
Jinping at a G20 summit in Japan in late June.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Makini
Brice in Washington; Writing by Michael Martina; Editing by
Darren Schuettler, Kim Coghill and Jeffrey Benkoe)
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