“The US' persistence in advancing the Section 301 investigation and publishing the so-called findings to pick a trade war will undoubtedly undermine the interests of American consumers, enterprises and the financial market directly,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said, a day after the US President ordered the US Trade Representative (USTR) to levy tariffs on at least $50 billion of Chinese imports. The move is designed to cut the US trade deficit and prevent alleged misappropriation of US intellectual property.
Trump’s Thursday announcement of the new duties was accompanied by the 215-page USTR’s Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act investigation report into China’s technology strategy, which, among other things, accuses Beijing of engaging in cyber espionage, intellectual property theft and pursuing aggressive investments and acquisitions in the US. “We have a tremendous intellectual property theft situation going on,” Trump said.
Beijing slammed Trump’s accusations as “unacceptable” and brushed aside all allegations of intellectual property theft.
“China's innovation achievements are earned by the wisdom and sweat of 1.3 billion Chinese people, not by stealing and not by robbing anyone,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying insisted, during Friday's press briefing. “Such achievements may make the US feel worried, but as the largest economy in the world, the US is supposed to be above making groundless accusations and blowing things out of proportion.”
The Foreign Ministry explained that low-cost and labor-intensive products from China have “considerably lowered” the consumption cost for the American consumer, all while helping the US deal with inflation. “The American consumers and enterprises will bear the brunt” of a trade war with China, Hua noted.
The spokeswoman also slammed statements from Trump's economic adviser, Peter Navarro, who accused China of benefiting from bilateral trade much more than Washington benefits from trading with China.
“In making his remarks, [Navarro] is a little bit too arrogant. He has apparently miscalculated the situation and underestimated China’s resolve and capability to defend its own legitimate rights and interests as well as the price the US has to pay for its recklessness and willfulness,” the spokeswoman noted.
US to China: Buy more American gas if you don't want more tariffs https://on.rt.com/91qa
US "friendly" suggestion to China: Buy more American gas if you don't want more tariffs — RT Business...
Donald Trump’s economic adviser has a suggestion as to how China can avoid more tariffs on its goods – buy more liquefied natural gas (LNG) from America.
Although the USTR was given 15 days by Trump to propose a list of Chinese products that will be targeted, China’s commerce ministry has already threatened to take legal action against the US through the World Trade Organization. The ministry is also contemplating targeting 128 American products through an imposition of a 15 percent tariff on American steel pipes, fruit and on wine imports. It also wants to slap the US with a 25 percent tariff on pork and recycled aluminum imports.
Amid the looming threat of a trade war escalation, the World Trade Organization’s Director-General Roberto Azevedo urged the sides to talk, warning that there will be “no winners” in this confrontation.
“Disrupting trade flows will jeopardize the global economy at a time when economic recovery, though fragile, has been increasingly evident around the world. I again call for restraint and urgent dialogue as the best path forward to resolve these problems,” Azevedo said Friday.
The Internet Association, a Silicon Valley lobbying group comprising such giants as Google, Amazon and Facebook, also warned that a trade war between US and China will result in higher prices for consumers, and industry job losses. “The internet sector represents 3 million jobs and 6 percent of GDP, and these tariffs will leave our customers worse off, stifle growth, and make it harder for the digital economy to succeed,” the group said in a press release, warning that ordinary Americans will be caught in the crossfire.
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Things to ponder
While our media prostitutes, many Hollywood celebs, and politicians and opinion shapers make so much noise about the still to be demonstrated damage done by the Russkies to our nonexistent democracy, this is what the sanctimonious US government has done overseas just since the close of World War 2. And this is what we know about. Many other misdeeds are yet to be revealed or documented.
Parting shot—a word from the editors
The Best Definition of Donald Trump We Have Found
In his zeal to prove to his antagonists in the War Party that he is as bloodthirsty as their champion, Hillary Clinton, and more manly than Barack Obama, Trump seems to have gone “play-crazy” — acting like an unpredictable maniac in order to terrorize the Russians into forcing some kind of dramatic concessions from their Syrian allies, or risk Armageddon.However, the “play-crazy” gambit can only work when the leader is, in real life, a disciplined and intelligent actor, who knows precisely what actual boundaries must not be crossed. That ain’t Donald Trump — a pitifully shallow and ill-disciplined man, emotionally handicapped by obscene privilege and cognitively crippled by white American chauvinism. By pushing Trump into a corner and demanding that he display his most bellicose self, or be ceaselessly mocked as a “puppet” and minion of Russia, a lesser power, the War Party and its media and clandestine services have created a perfect storm of mayhem that may consume us all.— Glen Ford, Editor in Chief, Black Agenda Report