China reaches out to EU, ASEAN members against US

Beijing: With US President Donald Trump going all out in his trade war on China by imposing 125 per cent tariff on import of Chinese goods, Beijing has reached out to the European Union (EU) and ASEAN countries to forge an united front and force the US to backtrack.

Beijing has retaliated with “countermeasures” imposing an 84 per cent tariff on US goods, which will take effect on Thursday. The 27-nation European Union bloc also hit back at Trump’s tariffs on Wednesday by approving levies of up to 25 per cent.

China and the European Union vowed to jointly uphold the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core, China’s commerce ministry said in a statement released today as per Chinese state media.

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic held discussions via video on Tuesday and discussed enhancing China-EU economic and trade cooperation and responding to the “reciprocal tariffs” imposed by the US, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Thursday in a statement, Xinhua reported.

The EU and China are each other’s largest trading partners.

During their talks, Wang noted that the US “reciprocal tariffs” seriously violate the legitimate interests of other countries, breach the WTO rules, undermine the rules-based multilateral trading system, and disrupt the stability of the global economic order. Wang said that the US move is typical “unilateralism, protectionism and economic bullying”. He further said that China is willing to resolve disputes through consultation and negotiation, but it will fight to the end if the United States continues to act wilfully.  (IANS)

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