Beijing: China on Tuesday said that its door for talks with the Trump administration is open but if there is a trade war it will "fight till the end", a day after Beijing imposed tariffs on 128 American products as a retaliation against US duties on steel and aluminium.
China on Monday imposed tariffs on 128 US imports worth USD 3 billion, including meat, fruit and pork, as retaliation against taxes approved by US President Donald Trump on imported steel and aluminium.
Referring to escalating trade dispute between the world's two biggest economies, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang during a media briefing here said, "China is not willing to have a trade war with anyone. But at the same time, we are also not afraid of a trade war. If anyone wants to trigger or pick up a fight we will fight to the end."
"We have every capacity and confidence to take all necessary measures to defend our legitimate rights and interests. The US wrote out its list we will do the same," he said. However, he pointed out that China has been stressing that the door for negotiations remains open.
"We hope we can resolve the difference in trade ties with US through negotiations," he said, adding that any negotiations and dialogue should follow international laws and trading rules "instead of domestic laws of the US".
The talks should be conducted on equal basis not on a "condescending and arrogant way", he said. The talks also should demonstrate mutual consultation instead of asking "one side to do in a certain thing", he said, adding that US should heed to the call of its business community and people and abandon protectionist measures.
China's Customs Tariff Commission has increased the tariff rate on eight imported US products, including pork, by 25 per cent and a new 15 per cent tariff on 120 imported US commodities, including fruits. China is keeping the big-ticket items like soybeans, sorghum andBoeing airplanes for heavy tariffs to counter Trump's heavy tariffs on Chinese products to reduce about USD 375 billion trade deficit between the two countries.
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