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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    • LePoisson@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      No, Trump imposed additional tariffs without reason on China. The only reason China raised tariffs, and by the way they literally stopped raising them because it’s pointless since they’re already so high, is because Trump started imposing them when he took office.

      There already were trade agreements and tariffs in place negotiated with both countries input. These new tariffs were just slapped on by the Trump admin not as a reaction to anything but as a unilateral imposition.

      You could also say they’re unilateral because they’re only aimed at China and no other states if you want to look at it that way too.