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‘We Will Fight To The End:’ China Responds To Trump’s Trade Measures

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

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Ryan Pickrell China/Asia Pacific Reporter
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The United States’ Chinese Embassy issued a stern response to President Donald Trump’s decision to hit China hard on trade, warning Beijing will not back down from a trade war.

The Trump administration will impose “about $60 billion” in new trade penalties on China over Chinese theft of American intellectual property, the first trade measures aimed directly at Chinese “economic aggression,” the president announced Thursday. “China is strongly disappointed and firmly opposes such an action,” the embassy said in a statement.

China accused the U.S. of “ignoring rational voices” and disregarding the “mutually-beneficial nature of China-U.S. trade relations.”

“China does not want a trade war with anyone,” the Chinese embassy wrote. “But China is not afraid of and will not recoil from a trade war. China is confident and capable of facing any challenge. If a trade war were initiated by the U.S., China would fight to the end to defend its own legitimate interests with all necessary measures.”

The latest trade moves as “self-defeating,” China’s representative office in the U.S. decried, asserting, “they will directly harm the interests of U.S. consumers, companies and financial markets. They also jeopardize international trade order and world economic stability.”

“We urge the U.S. to cease and desist, make cautious decisions, and avoid placing China-U.S. trade relations in danger with the purpose of hurting others that eventually end up hurting itself,” the statement concluded.

Beijing is considering a wide range of options to respond to Trump’s trade moves, but China remains open to dialogue, China’s ambassador to the World Trade Organization Zhang Xiangchen said, according to Reuters.

Trump’s punitive trade measures follow the conclusion of an investigation by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s investigation, which determined Chinese practices are detrimental to American interests.

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