U.S. President Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the beginning of a bilateral meeting at the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, on June 29, 2019.
Kevin LeMarque | Reuters
BEIJING – China is stressing its willingness to negotiate as additional tariffs on U.S. exports could soon become a reality.
President of the United States Donald Trump This week he said he might Add 10% tariff to Chinese goods As soon as February 1st. plan survey China’s actions harm U.S. commerce.
Ministry of Commerce spokesman He Yadong responded on Thursday that China’s Ministry of Commerce has been in communication with “relevant” U.S. departments on economic and trade issues.
China hopes that both sides, under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state… will strengthen dialogue and communication, properly manage differences, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, and promote the stable and healthy development of China-US economic and trade relations,” he added at his weekly press conference. That’s according to CNBC’s translation of his Mandarin remarks.
Trump said last week he had spoken with China’s president Xi Jinping by phone About TikTok and trade. China’s statement did not mention the social media app but said Xi Jinping called for cooperation and viewed the economic relationship between the two countries as mutually beneficial.
“Tariffs are not good for China, not good for the United States, and not good for the entire world,” said Mr. He, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce.
China is willing to work with the United States to promote the development of bilateral economic and trade relations in a stable, healthy, and sustainable direction on the basis of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation.
The comments echo those made by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning on Tuesday.
When asked about tariff negotiations, Mao Zedong said: “We are willing to maintain communication with the United States, properly handle differences, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, and promote the stable, healthy and sustainable development of Sino-U.S. relations.”
“China will also firmly defend its interests,” she said. This is based on the official English transcript.
Even a 10% tariff on China would be far lower than the 60% tariff initially proposed by Trump during the campaign.
Trump reiterated hours after taking office Monday Plans to impose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canadabut did not specify Chinese figures. He simply said that increased tariffs could force Beijing-based ByteDance to sell social media app TikTok, whose future availability in the United States is now in doubt.
When asked about TikTok on Thursday, Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman He Jiankui said China “hopes the U.S. will listen more to the voices of businesses and the public” and “do more things that are conducive to Sino-U.S. economic and trade cooperation” and the well-being of the people. “
