China’s Ministry of Commerce on Thursday said the country would have to take countermeasures if U.S. imposes additional tariffs on its goods.
This came after the U.S. threatened an additional tariff of 10 per cent on about 300 billion U.S. dollars of Chinese imports.
According to the Ministry of Commerce spokesman, Gao Feng, China’s position is consistent and clear, trade wars produce no winners. China does not want a trade war, not afraid of one, and will fight one if necessary.
Feng said the U.S. announced a plan to postpone the tariff hike on some Chinese goods; any new U.S. tariff hike would lead to an escalation of trade frictions unilaterally.
“If the U.S. acts arbitrarily, China will have to take countermeasures.
The tariff measures will damage the interests of both China and the U.S. and may also have a recessionary impact on the global economy.
“If the U.S. goes ahead wilfully, it will have a serious negative impact on its. businesses and consumers.
“Some U.S. financial institutions have predicted that the tariffs will cost an ordinary U.S. family 1,000 U.S. dollars a year on average.
“At the same time, the delay in imposing tariffs on some goods fully demonstrates that there are no winners in a trade war, if the trade frictions escalate, U.S. consumers and businesses will suffer heavy losses,“ feng said.
Feng, however, expressed the hope that the U.S. side would stop its erroneous practice of imposing tariffs, meet halfway with China, and find a solution to the problem based on equality and mutual respect.
He said that the U.S. move would pose certain challenges to China’s exports and economy, but general the impact would be fully controlled.
“The Chinese side is confident, determined and capable of meeting various challenges and maintaining the sound and stable development of its economy and foreign trade.
“Chinese and U.S. chief trade negotiators had a phone conversation on Aug. 13, and agreed to hold another phone conversation in two weeks.
“The two negotiating teams have maintained communication for sometime now,“Feng said.
