China Says It Opposes Trade War Escalation

China is not looking to escalate its trade war with the U.S. and wants to focus on removing tariffs, not adding them, a Chinese government spokesman said Aug. 28. “We are resolutely opposed to the escalation of the trade war and are willing to resolve the issue through consultation and cooperation in a calm attitude,” said Gao Feng, a commerce ministry spokesman, according to an unofficial translation of a press conference transcript. “The escalation of the trade war is not conducive to China, not to the United States, and is not conducive to the interests of the people of the world.”

The comments came days after China announced tariffs on $75 billion worth of U.S. goods in retaliation for the upcoming 10 percent U.S. Section 301 tariffs on $300 billion in Chinese goods (see 1908230004).

China wants to work with the U.S. to find a solution, and said it has told the U.S. this in negotiations. “We believe that the issue that should be discussed is to lift further tariffs on U.S. $550 billion of Chinese goods and prevent trade wars from continuing to escalate,” Gao said. “The most important thing is to create the necessary conditions for the two sides to continue consultations.”

Gao confirmed the two sides are discussing an upcoming September meeting but did not give more details. “The Chinese side believes that if the Chinese side goes to the United States for negotiations, the two sides should work together and create conditions to promote progress in the consultations,” Gao said.

Gao also said he opposed recent comments tweeted by President Donald Trump in which he “ordered” U.S. companies to leave China, saying decoupling would be disastrous. “The economic ties between China and the United States cannot be cut off by anyone who wants to cut it off,” Gao said. “If anyone wants to force the decoupling of the two economies, the result will be harming others, not only seriously damaging the interests of American enterprises and people, but also threatening the security of the global industrial chain supply chain and endangering international trade and the world economy.”

Gao also criticized the U.S.’s blacklisting of Huawei, including adding 46 of Huawei’s affiliates to Commerce’s Entity List (see 1908190039), saying Chinese and American companies have “formed interdependent relationships” and need each other. Gao urged the U.S. to end “the suppression and sanctions against Chinese companies such as Huawei as soon as possible.”