US President threatens to hit China with more tariffs worth US$300 billion on its goods

Media IN SHANNON, Ireland/BEIJING 6th-06-2019

On Thursday, the U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to hit China with tariffs on “at least” another $300 billion worth of Chinese goods but said he thought both China and Mexico wanted to make deals in their trade disputes with the United States.

Tensions between the world’s two largest economies have risen sharply since talks aimed at ending a festering trade war broke down in early May.

While talks with China were ongoing, no face-to-face meetings have been held between Trump and Chinese President since May 10, the day he sharply increased tariffs on a $200 billion list of Chinese goods to 25%, prompting Beijing to retaliate.

“Our talks with China, a lot of fascinating things are happening. We’ll see what happens… I could go up another at least $300 billion and I’ll do that at the right time,” Trump said yesterday without specifying which goods could be impacted.

“But I think China wants to make a deal and I think Mexico wants to make a deal badly,” added Trump

In Beijing, China’s Commerce Ministry replied in a statement; “If the United States wilfully decides to escalate tensions, we’ll fight to the end,” ministry spokesman Gao Feng told a regular news briefing.

“China does not want to fight a trade war, but also is not afraid of one. If the United States wilfully decides to escalate trade tensions, we’ll adopt necessary countermeasures and resolutely safeguard the interests of China and its people.”

The Commerce Ministry also issued a report on how the United States has benefited from years of economic and trade cooperation with China, saying U.S. claims that China has taken advantage in bilateral trade were groundless.

“It has also taken the trade deficit issue as an excuse to provoke economic and trade frictions.”

The International Monetary Fund warned on Wednesday that escalating tariff threats were sapping business and market confidence and could slow global growth that is currently expected to improve next year.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is scheduled to meet People’s Bank of China Governor Yi Gang this weekend at a gathering of G20 finance leaders in Japan, the first face-to-face discussion between key negotiators in nearly a month.

Mexican and U.S. officials are also set to resume their talks in Washington on Thursday aimed at averting an imposition of tariffs on Mexican goods.