Chinese Embassy to the U.S. spokesman Liu Pengyu stated that politicizing and weaponizing trade issues is against the ethos of what the U.S. seeks to champion: fair competition and free trade between China and the U.S.
China Calls on the US to Stop Weaponizing Trade Issues
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China Complains the US Is Using Trade Issues as a Weapon
The weaponization of trade relations by the U.S. government is starting to upset China, one of the titans of the trading world. The Chinese Embassy called on the US government to stop using trade issues as a weapon, politicizing them and considering trade issues as part of the national security strategy.
Talking with TASS, the official Russian news agency, Chinese Embassy to the U.S. spokesman Liu Pengyu remarked on the need to normalize the trade relations between the two nations.
Pengyu required the U.S. government to “stop politicizing and weaponizing economic and trade issues and foster necessary conditions for the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.”
The remarks come as the Trump administration enacts new barriers for Chinese companies to invest in U.S. soil. On Friday, Trump issued a memorandum to “curb the exploitation of its (U.S.) capital, technology, and knowledge by foreign adversaries such as China to ensure that only those investments that serve American interests are allowed.”
Pengyu declared that this behavior contradicts the ethos of the free market policies that should govern trade relations between the two nations. He stated:
To overstretch the concept of national security and deliberately obstruct normal economic and trade exchange for political agenda contravenes the principles of market economy, fair competition and free trade, which the U.S. claims to champion.
Tensions between the two countries have been rising since the Trump administration enacted 10% tariffs on Chinese imports, and China retaliated with similar taxes on coal, gas, and other products.
Read more: Trump’s Trade War Watch: Canada and Mexico Yield, China Counters With New Tariffs
China has already filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO), calling these tariffs “discriminatory and protectionist.” It claims these violate trade rules and are supported by “unfounded and false allegations” linking China to the influx of fentanyl to the country.
