'Chill Pill' to the World: Beijing Calls on Washington to End Trade Dispute
BEIJING (Sputnik) – Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that some representatives of the US administration had voiced concerns that China sought to become a usurper state and replace the United States. Wang dismissed these claims saying that China clang to a peaceful way of development based on the win-win cooperation strategy with other states.
Chinese Foreign Minister said in an interview with the People’s Daily newspaper, which was dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the establishment of US-Chinese diplomatic ties that Beijing and Washington should reach an agreement on trade issues as soon as possible.
"The sides need to make concessions and reach the deal as soon as possible, bringing good news to the peoples of the two countries and giving a chill pill to the whole world", Wang said.
The Chinese top diplomat also noted a significant progress in bilateral trade consultations, adding that both sides sought to expand bilateral cooperation.
Beijing could not afford prejudice and faulty judgments to determine the future of its relations with Washington, Wang stressed.
Washington and Beijing have been locked in a trade war since Trump announced in June a 25 percent tax on $50 billion worth of Chinese imports, in a bid to fix the US-Chinese trade deficit. Since then, the two countries have exchanged several rounds of trade tariffs, levying duties of hundreds of billions of dollars.
As of late December, the United States had slapped tariffs on approximately $250 billion worth of Chinese imports and has threatened to put penalties on another $267 billion more. To put this in perspective, the United States reportedly imports more than $500 billion worth of products from China annually.
The White House became concerned with Chinese retaliatory tariffs ahead of the midterms. In September, Trump accused Beijing of trying to influence US elections by imposing tariffs that hurt members of his political base, including farmers, ranchers and industrial workers.
Near the end of 2018, however, the two sides made some progress towards a settlement. On 1 December, during a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping reached a truce and agreed to de-escalate the trade war.
Donald Trump said Monday that the United States would reach a trade deal with China, saying the country "wants to negotiate."
- Source : Sputnik News
