The Latest: Trade war prompts cuts to global growth forecast
BEIJING (AP) — The Latest on U.S. restrictions on sales to Chinese technology giant Huawei (all times local):
7:00 p.m.
Chinese tech giant Huawei’s top executive in the European Union is lashing out at the Trump administration’s recently announced trade ban on the company and says other firms should be worried, too.
The U.S. government says Huawei is a security risk and issued an order last week requiring government permission for sales of U.S. technology to the company, which denies accusations it facilitates Chinese spying.
Huawei’s chief representative to the EU institutions, Abraham Liu, said Tuesday that “those among us who cherish the rule of law should be worried.”
Lamenting what he says is “bullying” by the administration, Lui said: “What has happened to the sacrosanct presumption of innocence?”
He says: “Today it is happening to Huawei, tomorrow it can happen to any other company.”
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6:00 p.m.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has cut its forecast for world growth this year and warned about the impact of the escalating trade tensions.
The organization, which advises industrialized nations on policy, said Tuesday it expects the global economy to grow 3.2% this year, down from its previous forecast of 3.3%.
It singles out trade tensions as the “principal factor weighing on the world economy” and notes that trade is expected to grow just 2% this year, which would be the lowest in a decade. The U.S. and China are engaged in a dispute over economic and technological supremacy that has seen both sides raise tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of traded goods.
The OECD’s chief economist, Laurence Boone, says “the fragile economy is being destabilized by trade tensions.”
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5:35 p.m.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman has accused Washington of misusing “state power” to hurt foreign companies and interfere in commercial markets.
The spokesman, Lu Kang, said in a routine briefing on Tuesday that “The Chinese government has determination and ability to safeguard its legitimate and lawful rights and interests.”
Responding to a question about President Donald Trump’s comment that a trade deal with Beijing has to be more beneficial to the U.S. than China, Lu said it was “unscientific and unprofessional” to assume that there must always be a winner and a loser in trade relations between the two countries.
He said any agreement must be balanced, equal and mutually beneficial.
Lu also said that using government power to “crackdown” on foreign companies and interfere in markets would not be in the interest of the U.S.
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4:44 p.m.
The founder of Huawei says U.S. restrictions on sales to the Chinese tech giant will have little impact and the company is talking with Google about the possible effect on its smartphone business.
Ren Zhengfei told Chinese reporters Tuesday in comments broadcast by state TV the company has “supply backups” if it loses access to American chips and other technology under last week’s order.
Washington says Huawei is a security threat and imposed imposing restrictions last week on technology sales to the company.
Ren said those control “will have no impact within this company” but some low-end business might be affected.
He said Huawei and Google are discussing possible “emergency relief measures” for its smartphone business, which might lose access to some of the American company’s services.
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