China on Monday informed France that it would start buying more of its farm products, while pledging to work on better market access as well as Airbus purchases, fortifying its trade ties with Europe as the trade war with the United States escalates, Reuters reported.
According to Reuters, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe that Beijing was planning to buy more planes this year and was ready for further talks with France on obtaining Airbus aircraft.
Paris and the European planemaker have been working to salvage a deal since President Emmanuel Macron returned from Beijing empty-handed in January.
“I explained to Mr. Prime Minister that in recent years we have bought quite a lot of passenger aircraft, and there needs to be a period to digest this,” Li told a joint news conference. “In spite of this, we are still willing to strengthen cooperation with France’s Airbus.”
Meanwhile, China warned that Boeing could become a casualty if the world’s two largest economies fail to end the trade war soon.
Both China and the European Union are having trade disputes with the U.S., and China has been seeking common ground with the EU in opposing what Beijing sees as U.S. protectionism.
“We believe that relevant frictions and disputes can be resolved via talks. There are no winners from fighting a trade war,” Li said. “All sides should join together to expand growth and not engage in putting up trade barriers or protectionism. This is good for nobody.”
Trump is expected to unveil new measures later this week as part of his efforts to curb Chinese companies buying stakes in U.S. firms.
“The U.S. Treasury Department is drafting restrictions that would block firms with at least 25 percent Chinese ownership from buying U.S. companies with industrially significant technology,” a government official briefed on the matter said on Sunday.
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