Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei brands Trump ‘irrational’ on trade, as billionaire says Beijing wages ‘economic war’

Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei has criticised Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, calling him “an irrational type” due to the candidate’s proposal that tariffs on imported Chinese goods be increased to up to 45 per cent.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Sunday, Lou said: “Trump is an irrational type. If he were to do this, that would be in violation of the rules set by the World Trade Organisation.”

Lou said that if the United States put Trump’s proposal into effect, it “would not be entitled to its position as the world’s major power. The US needs to recognise that the US and China are mutually dependent on each other. Our economic cycles are intertwined.”

He acknowledged that rhetoric in a US presidential campaign can become heated.

Trump on Sunday again asserted that China has waged “economic war” against the United States.

“They’ve taken our jobs, they’ve taken our money,” the billionaire businessman said at a campaign rally in New York. “We can’t continue to be ripped off like we’re being ripped off.”