Trade war ‘not making America great again’

BEIJING-Agence France-Presse

Washington’s escalating trade war with Beijing has not “made America great again” and has instead damaged the American economy, China said on June 2, warning that while it wants resolution through talks there will be no compromise on core principles.

Beijing’s broadside is the latest act in a bruising conflict between the world’s top two economies that has spooked markets and sparked fears about the global economy.

With trade talks stalled, the dispute has intensified in recent weeks with U.S. President Donald Trump imposing fresh tariffs on imports from China and moving to blacklist Chinese tech titan Huawei over national security concerns.

“The tariff measures have not boosted American economic growth. Instead, they have done serious harm to the U.S. economy,” the Chinese government said in a white paper, pointing to what it described as increased production costs and consumer prices in the United States and threats to economic growth.

‘Trade war hurts US’

“The trade war has not ‘made America great again’,” it said, referring to Trump’s political slogan made famous during his 2016 presidential campaign.

The white paper’s release came a day after China hit $60 billion worth of U.S. goods with new punitive tariffs ranging from five to 25 percent, in retaliation for Washington raising duty on $200 billion in Chinese goods to 25 percent.

Trump launched the trade war last year in a bid to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China and force Beijing to undertake economic reforms, accusing it of seeking to dominate global industries with unfair state subsidies and of acquiring American technology through theft or forced transfers.

Since Trump fired the first shot, the two countries have exchanged tit-for-tat tariffs on two-way trade worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

The resulting conflict has gutted U.S. farm exports to China, and weighed on the manufacturing sectors in both countries.

While both sides have sought to find a resolution through several rounds of negotiations, they appear to have stalled after the latest meetings ended without a deal.

American negotiators have alleged their Chinese counterparts reneged on previous commitments, but China said yesterday the U.S. should bear “sole and entire responsibility” for the setback in negotiations, accusing Washington of repeatedly changing its demands.

China has reiterated that it wants to resolve trade issues through talks.