China Warns US of 'Countermeasures' Against Possible New Tariffs
Beijing slams President Donald Trump threat of new import duties as "blackmail"
China says it will take appropriate countermeasures if the United States follows through with additional tariffs on Chinese goods. U.S. President Donald Trump announced Monday that he had asked the U.S. trade representative to identify a list of products to subject to 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods. The president said the move was in retaliation to Beijing's decision to impose tariffs on $50 billion in U.S. goods, matching the first set of tariffs imposed by Trump. In a statement issued Tuesday, China's commerce ministry criticized Trump's latest move as nothing more than "extreme pressure and blackmail" that "deviates from the consensus reached by both sides" during multiple talks. "China apparently has no intention of changing its unfair practices related to the acquisition of American intellectual property and technology,'' Trump said in his statement Monday. "Rather than altering those practices, it is now threatening United States companies, workers and farmers who have done nothing wrong.'' He threatened even more tariffs if Beijing again hits back with tit-for-tat duties on American goods. Trump's comments came hours after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told a Detroit business meeting that China was engaging in "predatory economics 101'' and an "unprecedented level of larceny'' of intellectual property. He said China's recent claims of "openness and globalization'' are "a joke.'' Pompeo said he raised the issue last week in a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying, "I reminded him that's not fair competition." Trump said he has an "excellent relationship'' with Xi, "but the United States will no longer be taken advantage of on trade by China and other countries in the world.''