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China says ‘won't be blackmailed’ as US adds to tariffs

Shipping containers from China and other Asian countries are unloaded at the Long Beach port, California, the US, on August 1, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

China says it would not be blackmailed and warned of retaliation after US President Donald Trump vowed to slap a 10% tariff on $300 billion of Chinese imports from next month, sharply escalating a trade row between the world's biggest economies.

Beijing would not give an inch under pressure from Washington, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said during a regular news briefing in Beijing on Friday.

Trump also threatened to further raise tariffs if Chinese President Xi Jinping fails to move more quickly to strike a trade deal.

The newly proposed wave of duties would extend Trump's tariffs to nearly all of the Chinese goods that the United States imports. Trump made his threat in a series of Twitter posts on Thursday (August 1) after his top trade negotiators briefed him on a lack of progress in US-China talks in Shanghai this week.

Possible retaliatory measures by China could include tariffs, a ban on the export of rare earths, and penalties against US companies in China, analysts say.

So far, Beijing has refrained from slapping tariffs on US crude oil and big aircraft, after cumulatively imposing additional retaliatory tariffs of up to 25% on about $110 billion of US goods since the trade war broke out last year.

China is also drafting a list of "unreliable entities" — foreign firms that have harmed Chinese interests. US delivery giant FedEx is under investigation by China.

(Source: Reuters)


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