Beijing says claims it is nearing a deal with Washington to resolve the trade war are ‘fake news’

Beijing has called on the US to “completely cancel all unilateral tariff measures” if it wants trade talks, in some of China’s strongest comments yet on the impasse between the world’s two economic superpowers.

“The unilateral tariff measures were initiated by the US,” said He Yadong, a Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson. “If the US truly wants to solve the problem, it should . . . completely cancel all unilateral tariff measures against China and find a way to resolve differences through equal dialogue.”

Beijing has maintained that the US must make the first move to de-escalate the crisis, which is threatening to spark a hard decoupling between the two countries’ economies.

Chinese analysts argue that the US imposition of high tariffs make it difficult for Beijing to find a way to defuse the crisis.

China’s President Xi Jinping would find it difficult to engage personally with Trump on the trade war unless this was preceded by extensive negotiations to hammer out a deal, they say.

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  • Wilco@lemm.eeEnglish
    17·
    6 hours ago

    Now Trump has a lever to pull for more insider trading. He will let the economy crumble for a while longer, then tell his friends “now is the time to invest” and then agree to remove all tariffs a few hours later. Then the economy will recover sharply from the insider trading spike and fall again when these vulture capitalists are done.