BEIJING (dpa-AFX) – China has reiterated its intention to fight the trade dispute with the USA to the end. The Ministry of Commerce in Beijing announced that the People’s Republic is consistently sticking to its position in the “trade and customs war”: If there is a “fight”, it will be done until the end. On the part of China, the door is open for negotiations.
Beijing had made similar statements in the past. The reason for the new statement was US President Donald Trump’s recent threat to impose an additional 100 percent tariffs on imports from China to the USA from November 1st. The People’s Republic had previously announced further restrictions on the export of rare earths – these are important raw materials for industrial companies in all kinds of sectors around the world, in which China is the global market leader.
US Trade Representative: Call postponed
With its statement, the Ministry of Commerce said it responded to a journalist’s question about a statement from a “US official” about a postponed phone call between government representatives from both countries. On Sunday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Fox News that China had not notified the US government about the new export controls on rare earths. “When we learned this from public sources, we asked the Chinese for a telephone conversation and they postponed it,” he said.
China has taken note of this fact, the Ministry of Commerce said. The export controls are legally compliant and do not mean an export ban. Applications that met the requirements would be approved, it said. However, companies have long complained that the complicated application processes take weeks and months, with no guarantee of approval at the end.
The Commerce Department emphasized that the US could not want to negotiate on the one hand and threaten new restrictions on the other. China is calling on the government in Washington to correct its “mistaken actions” and show serious willingness to negotiate.
Port fees come into effect
In the ongoing trade dispute, port fees for US ships previously announced by China also came into force on Tuesday. Exceptions apply to ships built in China and empty ships docked for repairs only. With this measure, Beijing is reacting to the port fees introduced by the USA against Chinese ships. China also announced sanctions against five US subsidiaries of the South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean./jon/DP/zb