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China vows to ght US ‘at any cost’ as trade spat worsens
By JILL COLVIN and GILLIAN WONG, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — China vowed
on Friday to ght the U.S. “at any cost” a er President Donald Trump proposed slapping an additional $100 billion in tari s on Chinese goods in an escalating trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies.
Trump’s surprise move ursday to instruct the U.S. trade representative to consider the additional tari s came a day a er Beijing an- nounced plans to tax $50 billion in American products, including soybeans and small air- cra , in response to a U.S. move this week to slap tari s on $50 billion in Chinese imports.
In Beijing, the Commerce Ministry said China doesn’t want a trade war — but isn’t afraid to ght one.
“China will dedicate itself to the end and at any cost and will de nitely ght back rmly” if the U.S. persists in its “protectionism,” the ministry said in a statement.
Trump’s proposal intensi ed what was al- ready shaping up to be the biggest trade battle since World War II. Global nancial markets had fallen sharply as the world’s two biggest economies squared o over Beijing’s aggressive trade tactics. ey calmed down Wednesday and ursday on hopes the U.S. and China would nd a diplomatic solution but slid Fri- day a er Beijing said it would ght the Trump administration’s latest threats.
e White House announced a er the mar- kets closed ursday that Trump had instruct- ed the O ce of the United States Trade Rep- resentative to consider whether $100 billion
of additional tari s would be appropriate and, if so, to identify which products they should apply to. He’s also instructed his secretary of agriculture “to implement a plan to protect our farmers and agricultural interests.”
“China’s illicit trade practices — ignored for years by Washington — have destroyed thousands of American factories and millions of American jobs,” Trump said in a statement announcing the decision.
e latest escalation comes a er the U.S. on Tuesday said it would impose 25 percent du- ties on $50 billion of imports from China, and China quickly retaliated by listing $50 billion of products that it could hit with its own 25
percent tari s. e Chinese list Wednesday included soybeans, the biggest U.S. export to China, and aircra up to 45 tons (41 metric tons) in weight. Also on the list were American beef, whiskey, passenger vehicles and industri- al chemicals.
Earlier in the week, Beijing announced sepa- rate import duties on $3 billion of U.S. goods in response to the Trump administration’s duties on all steel and aluminum imports, including from China.
U.S. o cials have sought to downplay the threat of a broader trade dispute, saying a negotiated outcome is still possible. But econ- omists warn that the tit-for-tat moves bear
the hallmarks of a classic trade ri that could escalate. And already, the tensions have rattled global stock markets.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer called China’s move “unjusti ed” and said Trump’s proposal was an “appropriate response to China’s recent threat of new tari s.”
“Such measures would undoubtedly cause further harm to American workers, farm- ers, and businesses,” he said in a statement. “Under these circumstances, the President is right to ask for additional appropriate action to obtain the elimination of the unfair acts, policies, and practices identi ed in USTR’s report.”
China’s Commerce Ministry said it must “adopt new countermeasures” to protect the interests of the Chinese people — but it did not announce any speci c measures.
e clash re ects the tension between Trump’s promises to narrow a U.S. trade de cit with China that stood at $375.2 billion in goods last year and China’s ruling Communist Party’s development ambitions. Trump says China’s trade practices have caused American factories to close and lead to the loss of Amer- ican jobs.
Trump’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said earlier ursday in an interview with Fox Business Network that negotiations were ongoing. But, he said, “at the end of the day, China’s unfair and illegal trading actions are damaging to economic growth, for the U.S., for China and for the rest of the world.”
He also called Trump “the rst guy with a backbone in decades ... to actually go a er it. Not just whisper it, but to go a er it with at least preliminary actions.”
One trade policy expert said he doubted that Trump’s rhetoric would help forge any deal with China.
“Mr. Trump is upping the ante, but the
lack of a clear game plan and an incoherent messaging strategy from the administration is setting this up for an all-out trade war rather than a fruitful negotiation,” said Eswar Prasad, professor of trade policy at Cornell University.
In China, some observers held out hope that the two countries were headed toward negotiations and noted that despite Beijing’s tough talk, it likely does not want the country’s export-driven economy to be hit by punishing tari s.
“If the trade dispute escalates or lasts for a long time, it will have a big impact on China’s manufacturing industry, and foreign invest- ment in related projects will be a ected too,” said Zhang Lifan, a Beijing-based independent political commentator. “In the long-run, losses in manufacturing will lead to decrease in tax revenue and eventually a ect China’s econom- ic growth.”
Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., a frequent Trump critic, called the escalation “the dumbest possi- ble way” to punish China.
“Hopefully the President is just blowing o steam again but, if he’s even half-serious, this is nuts,” Sasse said in a statement. “Let’s absolute- ly take on Chinese bad behavior, but with a plan that punishes them instead of us.”
Any additional tari s would be subject to a public comment process and would not go into e ect until that process is complete.
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Wong reported from Beijing. Associated Press writers Paul Wiseman and Josh Boak in Washington and news assistant Henry Hou in Beijing contributed to this report.
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