China vows to fight tariffs to the end, saying trade with US is already balanced

BANGKOK AP China again vowed to fight to the end against Donald Trump s tariffs in a lengthy plan declaration published Wednesday arguing that deal between the two countries is in balance as a tax on the country s exports to the U S came into effect The cabinet declined to say whether it would negotiate with the White House as numerous other countries have started doing If the U S insists on further escalating its economic and bargain restrictions China has the firm will and abundant means to take necessary countermeasures and fight to the end the Ministry of Commerce wrote in a declaration introducing the white paper Last Friday China stated a tariff on all goods imported from the U S export controls on rare earths minerals and a slew of other measures in response to Trump s Liberation Day tariffs Trump then added an additional tariff on goods from China saying negotiations with them were terminated So far China has not appeared interested in bargaining If the U S truly wants to resolve issues through dialogue and negotiation it should adopt an attitude of equality respect and mutual benefit disclosed Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian Wednesday The paper says that the U S has not honored the promises it made in the phase transaction deal concluded during Trump s first term As an example it mentioned that a U S law that would ban TikTok unless it is sold by its Chinese parent company violates a promise that neither would pressure the other party to transfer innovation to its own individuals Trump signed an order to keep TikTok running for another days last week after a probable deal to sell the app to American owners was put on ice ByteDance representatives called the White House to indicate that China would no longer approve the deal until there could be negotiations about transaction and tariffs The paper also argued that taking into account commerce in services and U S companies domestic Chinese branches economic exchange between the two countries is roughly in balance It says that China had a contract in services deficit with the U S of billion in which is composed of industries like insurance banking and accounting Trump s tariffs were designed to close commerce deficits with foreign countries but those were calculated only based on trades in physical tangible goods History and facts have proven that the United States increase in tariffs will not solve its own problems stated the report from the Chinese commerce ministry Instead it will trigger sharp fluctuations in financial markets push up U S inflation pressure weaken the U S industrial base and increase the peril of a U S economic recession which will ultimately only backfire on itself