Washington’s ‘hard lines’ are not helping to solve the trade war, Beijing warns
The remarks come after US President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin both said they were not rushing to discuss the trade war tariffs with China
China’s commerce ministry said on Thursday that Washington’s hardline trade war stance will not help “solve the problems” in the countries’ dispute, expressing displeasure with comments from US President Donald Trump and US Treasury Steven Mnuchin that they were in no hurry to talk to Beijing.
Gao Feng, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, said at a regularly scheduled press conference that “these so-called hard lines against China are not effective, they will not solve the problems”, in response to questions on the latest developments in Washington’s stance.
US concern about impact of China trade war on jobs and prices growing
“Unilateral trade protectionism is not the way to go,” Gao said, adding that China hopes to find a “trusting, fair and practical basis” with the US to address trade disputes.
Trump said earlier this week it was “not the right time to talk” to China about a resolution of the trade war. “They want to talk,” Trump said, in reference to Chinese officials. “It’s just not the right time to talk right now, to be honest with China.”
The next day, Mnuchin set out the Trump administration’s priorities on trade negotiations, saying further talks with China are unlikely until trade issues with Mexico, Canada and Europe are resolved.
“We’ve put [Washington’s foreign trade objectives] in three categories: the first was really [the North American Free Trade Agreement, or Nafta]; the second is dealing with the EU, which we are making progress on; and the third is China,” Mnuchin said in an interview with CNBC.
