Beijing ready to resume trade talks, says Chinese ambassador

Beijing is ready to further its trade talks with Washington, said Chinese ambassador to the United States (US) Cui Tiankai in an interview with an American news channel.

‘Our door is still open,’ said Mr Cui in an interview on Fox News Channel. ‘China remains ready to continue our talks with our colleagues to reach a conclusion,’ the ambassador added.

According to Mr Cui, he blamed the US’ side for frequently ‘changing its mind’ on the US-China trade deal, which caused the deal to sour.

Tit-for-tat US-China tariff spat on a deadlock

Since the last round of talks ended in a stalemate on May 10, both sides have not scheduled for any further talks on the trade deal. The US raised tariffs on US$200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10% to 25% after trade talks made little headway.

China then hit back by saying that it will raise tariffs on US$60 billion worth of American goods starting June 1 to as high as 25%. The duties largely target US farmers, taxing products such as peanuts, sugar, wheat, and chicken.

With the tariff hike from China, this meant that Beijing is backing out of major parts of a developing trade agreement, said the White House.

The Trump administration has threatened to put 25% of tariffs on US$325 billion of Chinese goods that currently remain untaxed.

US president Donald Trump has posted a string of tweets threatening China not to “retaliate” or things “will only get worse”. In a tweet to China and its president Xi Jinping, he said: ‘China will be hurt very badly if you don’t make a deal because companies will be forced to leave China for other countries.’

‘You had a great deal, almost completed, and you backed out!’ Mr Trump exclaimed.

Experts have warned that a prolonged trade war will lead to a slowdown in global growth which would dent corporate profits and dampen the renewed optimism of a global economy on a rebound.