BEIJING – President Xi Jinping on Friday said that Beijing wants to work for a trade deal with the United States (US) but is not afraid to “fight back” to protect its own interests.
Echoing the upbeat tone adopted by other Chinese officials in recent days, Xi told a visiting business from the US delegation that China holds a “positive attitude” about the trade talks.
“As we always said we don’t want to start the trade war, but we are not afraid,” Xi said. “When necessary, we will fight back but we have been working actively to try not to have a trade war.”
Later Friday, President Donald Trump reiterated his oft-stated assertion that the world’s two biggest economies are “potentially very close’’ to forging a modest “Phase 1” agreement. Such an agreement would be expected to include increased US farm sales to China but to leave bigger points of conflict largely unresolved. These include long-standing allegations that China steals trade secrets and pressures foreign companies to hand over technology.
“We have a deal potentially very close,’’ Trump said in a phone interview with “Fox & Friends.”
The latest flareup in trade tensions came after Trump imposed punitive tariffs last year on billions of dollars’ worth of Chinese exports to the US, seeking to ramp up pressure for changes in Chinese trade and investment policies.
China has retaliated with tariff hikes of its own. Sanctions have gradually escalated and trade talks have made only halting progress. But the two sides are working toward what they say will be a preliminary agreement to pave the way for tackling more complex issues.
However, the prospects even for a more general deal look uncertain, given that China has said it wants a promise from the US side to gradually reduce the tariffs already in place. It’s unclear if the US side would be willing to do that.
Pressure is building as financial markets grow increasingly jittery over prospects for a breakthrough.
Trump agreed to hold off on raising tariffs further last month while the two sides talked. But the Washington is still due to hike tariffs on $160 billion worth of imports from China next month.
That increase would boost prices on smartphones, laptops and many common household goods.
In the meeting Friday, Xi emphasized that Beijing will not yield its own “financial sovereignty,” hinting at limits to China’s flexibility on issues the ruling party considers vital for the country’s future.
China is finding its way “just like feeling the stones while crossing a river,” Xi said in the meeting Friday, in an expression famously used by Deng Xiaoping, the revolutionary leader who led the “reform and opening up” era beginning in the late 1970s.
“We are working to realize the Chinese dream of renewal of our nation,” Xi said. (AP)
