ZCZC
BCN-23
CHINA-US-TRADE-POLITICS,LEAD
China wants US trade deal but ‘not afraid’ to fight back: Xi
BEIJING, Nov 22, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – President Xi Jinping said Friday that
China wants to reach an initial trade deal with the United States but is “not
afraid” to fight back when necessary.
Xi made the remarks two days after US President Donald Trump complained
that Beijing had not made sufficient concessions so far, making him reluctant
to conclude a bargain.
The world’s two biggest economies have been locked in a bruising trade
conflict for more than a year, hitting each other with volleys of tariffs on
hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods.
“As we always said we don’t want to start the trade war but we are not
afraid,” Xi told former US officials and other foreign dignitaries at a
meeting in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.
“When necessary we will fight back but we have been working actively to
try not to have a trade war,” he told the group, which included former US
secretary of state Henry Kissinger, former US treasury secretary Henry
Paulson and former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd.
Top trade negotiators spoke on the phone on Saturday in what the Chinese
commerce ministry described as “constructive” discussions on a preliminary
deal.
China has insisted on a rollback of existing tariffs, which Trump said he
has not agreed to.
US Congress approval this week of legislation supporting pro-democracy
protesters in Hong Kong has also cast a shadow on the negotiations.
“We want to work for a phase-one agreement on the basis of mutual respect
and equality,” Xi told the foreign visitors, who were in town for the
Bloomberg New Economy Forum.
BSS/AFP/RY/1448 hrs