Trade row: China says US putting 'knife to its neck'
A senior Chinese official said on Tuesday it is difficult to proceed with trade talks with the United States while Washington is putting “a knife to China's neck”, a day after both sides heaped fresh tariffs on each other's goods.
When the talks can restart would depend on the “will” of the United States, Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen said at a news conference in Beijing.
US tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods and retaliatory taxes by Beijing on $60 billion worth of US products including liquefied natural gas (LNG) kicked in on Monday, unnerving global financial markets.
“Now that the United States has adopted such a huge trade restriction measure ... how can the negotiations proceed? It's not an equal negotiation,” Wang said, stressing the United States has abandoned its mutual understanding with China.
