Chinese media attack Trump in latest round of trade war
Chinese state media have today criticised US President Donald Trump for his trade policies in the latest round of an ongoing trade war between the US and China.
According to Reuters, China’s People’s Daily newspaper said that the US president was in his own “street fighter-style deceitful drama of extortion and intimidation”.
It also said that the US has helped cause trade friction with China.
On Friday, August 3, China’s finance ministry reportedly announced additional tariffs worth $60 billion on more than 5,000 goods imported from the US.
This is the latest in an ongoing trade war between the US and China.
Trump took to Twitter yesterday, August 5, to express his thoughts on the effectiveness of imposing tariffs.
“Tariffs are working big time,” he said before adding that international companies should manufacture their products in the US if they don’t want to be taxed.
“Because of tariffs, we will be able to start paying down large amounts of the $21 trillion in debt that has been accumulated, much by the Obama administration, while at the same time reducing taxes for our people,” he added. “At minimum, we will make much better trade deals for our country.”
In June, Trump announced he would impose tariffs of 10% on $200 billion worth of Chinese products.
Last week, on Wednesday, August 1, the president asked US trade representative Robert Lighthizer to consider increasing the proposed level of the tariff rate from 10% to 25%.
Lighthizer said the increase will provide the Trump administration with options to encourage China to change its “harmful policies and behaviour”.
“The US has joined forces with like-minded partners around the world to address unfair trade practices such as forced technology transfer and IP theft, and we remain ready to engage with China in negotiations that could resolve these and other problems detailed in our Section 301 report,” he added.
The trade war dates back to August 2017, when Trump instructed Lighthizer to investigate China’s trading practices.
An eight-month investigation concluded that China had been “engaging in industrial policy which has resulted in the transfer and theft of IP and technology to the detriment of our economy”.
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