China threatens to retaliate against those striking trade deals with US
China on Monday threatened to impose countermeasures on countries seeking to strike trade deals with the US at its expense in order to get American tariff exemptions.
In a pre-emptive move to stall a host of nations with whom China has lucrative trade ties from striking exclusive trade deals with the US to get tariff exemptions, the Commerce Ministry spokesperson warned that Beijing will firmly oppose such agreements.
The spokesperson made these remarks in a statement while responding to reports that the US is preparing to pressure other countries to restrict trade ties with China in exchange for tariff exemptions, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
“If such a situation arises, China will not accept it and will resolutely take corresponding countermeasures,” the spokesperson said, adding that “trying to trade away others’ interests for temporary gains is like bargaining with a tiger for its skin — it will only backfire.”
The ministry warned that it will not tolerate any deals made by foreign governments at the expense of Chinese interests.
It added that China has the right to resolve and the capability to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.
“This is essentially using the banner of ‘reciprocity’ as a pretext to pursue hegemonic politics and unilateral bullying in the field of international economy and trade,” it said.
China’s tough stand came against the backdrop of reports that several countries, against whom US President Donald Trump imposed varied tariffs, are now seeking to work out bilateral trade deals with Washington to resume their exports to access the lucrative US market.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the US plans to use tariff negotiations to pressure dozens of countries into imposing new barriers on trade with China.
Several countries and groups, including Japan, the EU and ASEAN, have lucrative trade with both China and the US.
India too is negotiating a new trade deal with the US.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India is “actively engaging” with the new US administration and hopes to conclude the first tranche of the bilateral trade agreement ‘positively’ by fall (September-October) this year.
“We are one of the countries which is actively engaged the US to see how best we can get a bilateral trade agreement done,” she said.
World