Ministry of Commerce of China (MOFCOM) Thursday called for Washington to stop unilaterally escalating the trade war, warning that Beijing would resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard the country and its people's interests if new tariffs become effective.
Ministry spokesman Gao Feng made the remark at Thursday's regular press conference. He said the U.S.' decision to delay some tariffs on China proves there's no winner in a trade war and that U.S. merchants and consumers will suffer a great loss if the lingering trade friction continues to escalate between the world's two largest economies.
On August 13, the Trump administration delayed some pending tariffs on China after Trump announced an additional 10 percent tariff on 300 billion U.S. dollars worth of Chinese imports earlier this month.
Although the U.S. has postponed tariffs on some Chinese exports until mid-December, any new tariffs will exacerbate economic and trade frictions between the two countries, according to Gao.
"We hope the U.S. could show sincerity and actions and meet China halfway to jointly find a way out based on equality and mutual respect," Gao said, noting that the U.S.' move seriously violates the Osaka consensus between the two sides.
Regarding the proposed September 1 tariffs on Chinese goods, Gao said although they will pose certain challenges to the Chinese economy, the overall impact is controllable.
Gao also revealed that trade teams from both China and the U.S. have been maintaining communication. He said the teams had a phone call on August 13 and agreed to talk again within two weeks.
The MOFCOM spokesman also said China would release its "unreliable entities list" soon.
China strongly opposes the unilateral move by the U.S. to escalate the trade war, and it will take countermeasures to bring both sides back to the right track based on mutual respect.
