The U.S.-China trade war took another turn toward escalation on Monday as China threatened to retaliate against countries which make trade deals with the United States that would hurt Beijing’s interests.
“Appeasement cannot bring peace, and compromise cannot earn one respect,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Commerce Ministry said on Monday.
“China firmly opposes any party reaching a deal at the expense of China’s interests. If this happens, China will never accept it and will resolutely take countermeasures,” the world’s second-largest economy said.
Since President Donald Trump took office earlier this year, the United States and China have been on a collision course in trade.
The U.S. Administration, which has halted until July tariffs on other countries except China, is reportedly planning to use bilateral trade and tariff talks to have them limit their trade and deals with China, The Wall Street Journal reported last week, citing sources familiar with the ongoing negotiations.
According to the Journal’s report, the Trump Administration is seeking to have countries commit to limiting their trade with China and isolate the world’s second-largest economy in exchange for tariff relief.
China now vows retaliation against countries that cave to U.S. pressure to seek to isolate Beijing.
“The United States has abused tariffs on all its trading partners under the banner of so-called “reciprocity”, while at the same time forcing all parties to start so-called “reciprocal tariff negotiations” with it,” the spokesperson for the Chinese Commerce Ministry said today.
China blamed the U.S. for what it described as “unilateral bullying in the economic and trade fields under the guise of ‘reciprocity’”.
“Once international trade returns to the “law of the jungle” where the strong prey on the weak, all countries will become victims,” China said.
The U.S.-China trade war and concerns about global economic growth and a possible recession in the world’s top oil consumer, the United States, resurfaced early on Monday and dragged oil prices down by 2% at Asian trade open.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com