BEIJING has warned Washington that any deals struck “will not take effect” if Donald Trump’s threatened tariff hike on Chinese goods goes ahead.
The message was issued one hour after delegations led by US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross and China’s top economic official, vice premier Liu He, wrapped up a meeting on Beijing’s pledge to narrow its trade surplus.
Ross said the two sides had discussed specific US exports China might purchase, but neither side disclosed details of the talks.
The Chinese statement said the two sides “achieved positive and concrete progress”.
Washington threw the status of the meeting into doubt on Tuesday by renewing a threat to hike tariffs on $50 billion (£37bn) of Chinese high-tech goods in response to American complaints Beijing steals or pressures foreign companies to hand over technology.
The meeting went ahead regardless, but Beijing said it reserved the right to retaliate and said the talks should be “based on the premise” the two sides would “not fight a trade war”.
“If the United States introduces trade sanctions including a tariff increase, all the economic and trade achievements negotiated by the two parties will not take effect,” the statement said.
Trump is pressing Beijing to narrow its politically volatile trade surplus with the US, which reached a record $375.2bn (£281bn) last year.
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