INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The United States and China implemented tariffs on $34 billion worth of each others' goods in July (File)Beijing: China's state media said
on Saturday the government's retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion of US goods showed rational restraint and they accused the United States of
blackmail.Late on Friday, China's finance ministry unveiled new sets of additional tariffs on 5,207 goods imported from the United States,
with the extra levies ranging from five to 25 percent on a total value of goods less than half of that proposed by US President Donald
Trump's administration.The response follows the Trump administration's proposal of a 25 percent tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese
imports."China's countermeasures are rational," the Global Times, a tabloid run by the official People's Daily, said in a commentary."China
will not rush to compete with US numbers," it said, echoing comments made by state television.The United States and China implemented
tariffs on $34 billion worth of each others' goods in July
Washington is expected to soon implement tariffs on an additional $16 billion of Chinese goods, which China has already said it will match
immediately."The White House's extreme pressure and blackmail are already clear to the international community," said a state television
commentary."Such methods of extreme blackmail will not bear fruit against China."China has now either imposed or proposed tariffs on $110
billion in US goods, representing the vast majority of China's annual imports of American products
Last year, China imported about $130 billion in goods from the United States."The US has repeatedly resorted to threatening and deceitful
routines, trying to force China to compromise, both overestimating its own bargaining power and underestimating China's determination and
ability to defend its national dignity and the interests of its people," said a commentary in the official Xinhua news agency.US Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo, however, remained staunch on Washington's push for fairer trading conditions with China."President Trump inherited an
unfair trade regime where American workers and American companies were not treated reciprocally or fairly by the Chinese, and the efforts of
the Trump administration are to right that, to correct that," Pompeo said to reporters on the sidelines of a regional forum in
Singapore.Pompeo added that he had discussed trade issues with Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi on Friday.Malaysian Foreign Minister
Saifuddin Abdullah said he met Pompeo in Singapore and that his message was clear. "My objective was quite straightforward: I think I need
to inform him that we are very concerned," said Saifuddin.Countries like Malaysia form an integral part of Chinese exporters' supply chains,
and analysts have warned a trade war could knock billions of dollars off their economic growth in coming years."China has taken a necessary
and legitimate response, based on the interests of the Chinese people and to protect the rules-based international trade system under the
WTO," said Wang on the sidelines of the Singapore forum on Saturday.In response to a question about a comment by White House economic
adviser Larry Kudlow that China's latest measures are "weak", Wang said: "Does he want China to take an even stronger response"© Thomson
Reuters 2018(This story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
