As its tariff war against the United States (U.S) continues to gain more vitriolic momentum, China on Monday warned leaders of other countries against signing trade agreements with the U.S that could harm Beijing’s interests.
In a statement issued by Beijing signaling a hardening stance as trade tensions with the President Trump’s fiscal regime continued to escalate, China’s Ministry of Commerce maintained that it “resolutely opposes any party reaching a deal at the expense of China’s interests,” adding that it “will never accept it and will resolutely take reciprocal countermeasures.”
The ministry also canvassed greater coordination among other countries globally to resist what it described as “unilateral bullying acts.”
The Beijing authorities; warning came as efforts by several countries to negotiate exemptions or modifications to the Trump’s sweeping tariffs continue to disrupt global trade with the attendant negative implications for the global economic growth
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According to reports, US officials have considered asking other nations to impose “secondary tariffs” on imports from countries closely linked to China even as it also urged its allies not to absorb Chinese exports affected by American tariffs, a move analysts belief is intended to prevent Beijing from proactively managing trade restrictions.
Already, Vietnam has reportedly intensified the scrutiny of goods crossing its borders in an attempt to block Chinese products from being rerouted to the US.
This is even as the U.S is planning to hold trade talks with some countries, including Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea with a view to agreeing on terms of tariff administration on multilateral negotiations.
It would be recalled that prior to its statement on Monday, China had previously retaliated against countries that it considered to be undermining its interests on the tariff face-off between it and the U.S.
