Beijing Ramps Up Rhetoric, Calls for 'People's War' Against US Over Tariff Threat
China reacted strongly to imposition of new tariffs by the Trump administration, saying the Asian power is not afraid to fight a trade war “to the end.”
The forceful rhetoric came as President Donald Trump sought to downplay the current trade standoff as a “little squabble” between the nations.
“We’re having a little squabble with China because we’ve been treated very unfairly for many, many decades, for actually a long time and it should have been handled a long time ago,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.
“I think it’s going to turn out extremely well. We’re in a very strong position,” the president said.
Trump called the trade war with China "a little squabble" and rejected the characterization that talks have broken down. More on the ongoing trade negotiations in Playbook PM: https://t.co/rZQuOYK1Ov pic.twitter.com/KIeiCsOcaX
— POLITICO (@politico) May 14, 2019
Earlier in the day, China’s Foreign Ministry warned that the U.S. should not “underestimate China’s determination and will to safeguard its interests,” according to USA Today.
“China doesn’t want a trade war, but we are not afraid of fighting one,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang. “If someone brings the war to our doorstep, we will fight to the end. China never succumbs to external pressure. We have the resolve and capability to defend our lawful and legitimate rights and interests.”
The NewsTimes reported the China’s state-run media published a series of Op-Eds on Monday slamming the Trump administration.
“The most important thing is that in the China-US trade war, the US side fights for greed and arrogance … and morale will break at any point. The Chinese side is fighting back to protect its legitimate interests,” read a Chinese language editorial carried by Xinhua News Agency.
“The trade war in the US is the creation of one person and one administration, but it affects that country’s entire population. In China, the entire country and all its people are being threatened. For us, this is a real ‘people’s war.'”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered just 200 over points of the more than 600 it lost the previous day after the Trump administration announced it was increasing tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent on $200 billion in Chinese products imported into the U.S.
China retaliated to the tariff increases by upping its duties on $60 billion in goods it imports from America.
The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office published a list on Monday of an additional $300 billion worth of Chinese imports on which it is considering placing tariffs of up to 25 percent.
Market Watch reported that the U.S. imported a record $539 billion in goods from China in 2018, while exporting $120.3 billion to the world’s most populous country.
Trump has argued on multiple occasions, because of this trade imbalance, the U.S. is in a significantly stronger position in China in the ongoing negotiations.
In a Tuesday series of tweets, he wrote, “China buys MUCH less from us than we buy from them, by almost 500 Billion Dollars, so we are in a fantastic position. Make your product at home in the USA and there is no Tariff. You can also buy from a non-Tariffed country instead of China.”
….so that they will be more competitive for USA buyers. We are now a much bigger economy than China, and have substantially increased in size since the great 2016 Election. We are the “piggy bank” that everyone wants to raid and take advantage of. NO MORE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 14, 2019
“Many companies are leaving China so that they will be more competitive for USA buyers,” he added. “We are now a much bigger economy than China, and have substantially increased in size since the great 2016 Election. We are the ‘piggy bank’ that everyone wants to raid and take advantage of. NO MORE!”
Trump told reporters he plans to talk to Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit in Japan next month and thinks it will probably be a “very fruitful meeting.”
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