China ‘won’t give an inch’ after Donald Trump threatens more tariffs for failing to make sufficient concessions to US
- Beijing warns Washington it must ‘bear the consequences’ after tweets from president announce plan to impose 10 per cent levy on US$300 billion of Chinese goods
- Officials say China will inevitably impose countermeasures to protect its core interests
China said on Friday it would not “give an inch” by offering trade concessions to the United States and promised to retaliate if Donald Trump went ahead with his threat to impose more tariffs.
Both the foreign and commerce ministries said the US would have to “bear all the consequences”and demanded more sincerity from Washington if negotiations were to continue following the president’s latest announcement, which caught many in Beijing off guard.
He also complained that China had so far failed to act on a pledge to stop sales of Fentanyl, a drug blamed for thousands of deaths, to the US.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said Trump’s announcement had violated the agreement reached between the two nations following a summit between Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in late June, when the US promised not to impose further tariffs.
“China will not accept any form of pressure, intimidation or deception. We will not give an inch on important issues of principle,” Hua said.