China accuses Trump of ‘holding a knife to its throat’ with tariffs

China has accused that the US is ‘putting a knife to its neck’ with sanctions and argued that resuming trade negotiations is almost impossible in the current circumstances.

Deputy trade negotiator Wang Shouwen made the comments at a press conference in Beijing at which a Chinese government published a policy paper accusing the US of ‘trade bullyism’.

The paper’s release coincided with President Trump’s imposition of a fresh tranche of 10 per cent tariffs on $200billion-worth of Chinese imports.

A new policy paper published by the Chinese government on Tuesday accused the US of ‘trade bullyism’ over the fresh sanctions

China retaliated Monday with its own 5-10% tariffs on $60 billion worth of American goods.

‘How could you negotiate with someone when he puts a knife on your neck?’ Wang complained at the press conference.

‘If this continues, it will destroy in an instant the gains of the last four decades of China-US relations.’ 

Wang concluded that it was ‘entirely up to the US’ to broker a truce over the current trade war.

The conflict stems from U.S. President Donald Trump’s complaints Beijing steals or pressures foreign companies to hand over technology.

American officials say Chinese plans for state-led development of global competitors in robotics and other technologies violate its market-opening obligations and might erode U.S. industrial leadership.

Donald Trump announced he would be targeting Xi Jinping’s China with $200 billion of tariffs in the latest escalation of his trade war on Monday

Trump said inflation due to tariffs has been ‘almost unnoticeable,’ although agricultural producers in the heartland have complained of the pain of counter-tariffs 

China’s leaders offered to narrow their politically sensitive, multibillion-dollar trade surplus with the United States by purchasing more natural gas and other American exports.

But they have rejected pressure to change industry plans the communist leadership sees as a path to prosperity and global influence.

Monday’s tariff hike follows a report by The Wall Street Journal that Chinese officials pulled out of a meeting to discuss possible talks proposed by Washington. The Chinese government had given no public indication whether it would accept the invitation.

Envoys last met August 22 in Washington but reported no progress.

With no settlement in sight, forecasters say the conflict between the two biggest economies could trim global growth through 2020.