INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Chinese President Xi Jinping is seen here with US President Donald Trump (File Photo)Beijing: Beijing on
Tuesday accused Donald Trump of "blackmail" and warned it would retaliate in kind after the US president threatened to impose fresh tariffs
on Chinese goods, pushing the world's two biggest economies closer to a trade war.Trump said on Monday he had asked the US Trade
Representative to target $200 billion worth of imports for a 10 percent levy, citing China's "unacceptable" move to raise its own tariffs.He
added he would identify an extra $200 billion of goods -- for a possible total of $450 billion, or most Chinese imports -- "if China
increases its tariffs yet again"."Further action must be taken to encourage China to change its unfair practices, open its market to United
States goods and accept a more balanced trade relationship with the United States," Trump said in a statement.Last week, he announced 25
percent tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports, prompting Beijing to retaliate with matching duties on US goods.The US leader warned
Friday of "additional tariffs" should Beijing hit back with tit-for-tat measures."The trade relationship between the United States and China
must be much more equitable," he said in explaining his latest decision."I have an excellent relationship with President Xi (Jinping), and
we will continue working together on many issues
But the United States will no longer be taken advantage of on trade by China and other countries in the world."China's commerce ministry
immediately responded by saying the US "practice of extreme pressure and blackmail departed from the consensus reached by both sides during
multiple negotiations and has also greatly disappointed international society"."If the US acts irrationally and issues a list, China will
have no choice but to take comprehensive measures of a corresponding number and quality and take strong, powerful countermeasures."The news
hit stock markets in Asia, where Shanghai shed three percent in the morning, Hong Kong lost more than two percent and Tokyo was one percent
lower.Trump is moving forward with the measures after months of sometimes fraught shuttle diplomacy in which Chinese offers to purchase more
American goods failed to assuage his grievances over a widening trade imbalance and China's aggressive industrial development policies.China
had offered to ramp up purchases of American goods by $70 billion to help cut its yawning trade surplus with the United States, whereas
Trump had demanded a $200 billion deficit cut.'Unacceptable'The China trade offensive is only one side of Trump's multi-front battle with
the United States' economic partners as he presses ahead with his protectionist "America First" agenda.Since June 1, steel and aluminium
imports from the European Union, Canada and Mexico have been hit with tariffs of 25 percent and 10 percent, respectively."This latest action
by China clearly indicates its determination to keep the United States at a permanent and unfair disadvantage, which is reflected in our
massive $376 billion trade imbalance in goods," Trump said of China's retaliatory tariffs."This Is Unacceptable."Two decades ago, China's
economy was largely fuelled by exports, but it has made progress in rebalancing towards domestic investment and consumption since the global
financial crisis erupted last decade -- limiting the damage trade tariffs could inflict on Beijing.Still, strong exports this year have
lifted the economy, which is now showing signs of losing steam under the weight of Beijing's war on debt, launched to clean up financial
risks and rein in borrowing-fuelled growth."China apparently has no intention of changing its unfair practices related to the acquisition of
American intellectual property and technology," Trump said in a statement."Rather than altering those practices, it is now threatening
United States companies, workers and farmers who have done nothing wrong."Initially, 545 US products valued at $34 billion will be targeted
by China, mimicking the Trump administration's tariff rollout.These include major American exports to China such as soybeans, which brought
in $14 billion in sales last year, and are grown in states that supported Trump during the 2016 presidential election.Politically important
exports like other agricultural products and automobiles also made the list.Beijing also drew up a second list of $16 billion in chemical
and energy products to hit with new tariffs, though it did not announce a date for imposing them.(This story has not been edited by
TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
