The United States needs to correct its wrong actions if it wants to continue negotiations with China to end a damaging tariff war, China’s Commerce Ministry said on Thursday, Reuters reported. The Chinese Ministry added that talks should be based on mutual respect.
The United States has escalated trade frictions greatly, and increased chances of a global economic recession, spokesman Gao Feng said at a weekly briefing, adding that Beijing will take necessary steps to safeguard Chinese firms’ interests.
“If the U.S. would like to keep on negotiating it should, with sincerity, adjust its wrong actions. Only then can talks continue,” Feng said Thursday in Mandarin, according to a CNBC translation.
Feng did not mention any U.S. actions specifically, but it’s been a tense couple of weeks between the world’s two largest economies. President Donald Trump unexpectedly announced earlier this month that tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods would increase to 25% from 10% on May 10. In the last two weeks, his administration also put Chinese telecom giant Huawei on a blacklist that prevents it from buying from American companies without U.S. government permission.
Google said Sunday it would cut ties with Huawei in order to comply with the order. But after the U.S. temporarily eased some restrictions on trade for the telecom and smartphone company, Google said Tuesday it plans to work with Huawei over the next 90 days, CNBC added.
“The U.S. … crackdown on Chinese companies not only seriously damages the normal commercial cooperation between both countries, but it also forms a great threat to the security of the global industrial and supply chain,” Feng said. “China is firmly opposed to this. We will closely monitor developments and make adequate preparations.”
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC’s Ylan Mui on Wednesday that a trip to Beijing has not been planned. President Trump has said he plans to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in late June at the G-20 meeting in Japan.
Nearly three-fourths of respondents to a joint survey by the American Chambers of Commerce in Shanghai and Beijing said the latest round of U.S. tariffs and planned counter-tariffs from China are negatively affecting their businesses. Some respondents also noted increased scrutiny by customs authorities and other bureaucratic challenges, CNBC noted.
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