China says it is looking at American proposals to scale down tariff war
Ministry of Commerce says US has ‘recently taken the initiative to relay messages to China’
China is assessing whether to start trade negotiations with the United States following representations from Washington, the Ministry of Commerce said on Friday, signalling a possible easing of the tit-for-tat tariff war between the world’s two largest economies.
“China has noted the repeated statements from senior US officials expressing a willingness to negotiate with China on tariff issues,” a ministry spokesperson said, in Beijing’s first official acknowledgement in weeks of a US overture.
“At the same time, the US side has recently taken the initiative to relay messages to China through relevant channels, expressing a desire to engage in talks. China is currently evaluating this matter.”
If the US truly wanted to talk, it must “demonstrate sincerity by addressing its wrong practices” and “take concrete actions”, including removing all the unilateral tariffs it imposed on China, the spokesperson said.
“If the US refuses to correct its erroneous unilateral tariff policies, it would only prove its complete lack of sincerity and further undermine mutual trust,” the spokesperson added.
“Saying one thing while doing another, or even using talks as a cover for coercion and extortion – China will not accept this.