Threat Of More Tariffs By Trump, China Says It Ready To Reciprocate


04/08/2018



Warnings of a “fierce counter strike” was issued by China that would involve fresh measures on trade with the United States if the Trump administration went ahead with the threat of tariffs on new China goods into the U.S. worth $100 billion.
 
On Thursday, Trump had instructed U.S. officials to identify additional Chinese products that could be taxed to counter the China’s “unfair retaliation” that he sees w2as done by China against earlier U.S. trade measures. That action by Trump further escalated the already tensed trade relations between the U.S> and China.
 
The tensions between the two countries was described as a struggle between unilateralism and multilateralism and there is little chance of negotiations under the present circumstances, said China’s Commerce Ministry spokesman, Gao Feng, while identifying the U.S. action as an “extremely mistaken” and unjustified one.
 
“The result of this behavior is to smash your own foot with a stone,” Gao told a news briefing in Beijing. “If the United States announces an additional $100 billion list of tariffs, China has already fully prepared, and will not hesitate to immediately make a fierce counter strike.”
 
 
Share markets were once again rattled by the trade threats. This further aggravated a already volatile week for the global markets – especially Wall Street. On the average, global markets fell by over 2 per cent on the day. There was a rise in Japanese Yen and gold futures because there was a drop in the dollar.
 
The volatile week for the markets began when tariffs on $3 billion worth of U.S. products imported into China were announced to be taxed by Chinese authorities. The list included fruits, nuts, wine and pork. Later on, the country further escalated the threats which, if implemented, could result in trade worth hundreds of billions of dollars between the U.S. and China would be impacted.
 
No clear path of negotiations is available now even though calls for talks with China on trade have been given by U.S. officials. While Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told during a television interview that “we are in communication regularly”, Trump economic advisor Larry Kudlow also promoted the idea of talks in TV shows.
 
Trump commented that the markets have gone up (since he took office) “so we might lose a little bit of it”, while he was giving an interview New York radio station WABC about the impact of trade tensions with China on U.S. stock markets
 
“So we may take a hit and you know what, ultimately we’re going to be much stronger for it.”
 
Trump and America’s top trade official Robert Lighthizer were “thinking about submitting a list of suggestions to the Chinese”, Kudlow told Bloomberg Television.
 
On the other hand, China said that while it is not looking for a trade war, it reiterated hat it is not afraid if one erupts. China has also accused the U.S. of stoking the trade conflict. The U.S. officials were making incorrect comments on the ongoing talks about trade issues, Gao said.
 
“Under these conditions, the two sides cannot conduct any negotiations on this issue,” Gao said, without elaborating.
 
(Source:www.reuters.com)