(Bloomberg) -- China may have no interest in continuing trade negotiations with the U.S. now, as it sees little “sincerity” in U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent approach, according to commentaries run by state media outlets Friday.
If the U.S. doesn’t make any new moves that truly show sincerity, then it is meaningless for its officials to come to China and have trade talks, according to Taoran Notes, a WeChat blog run by state-owned Economic Daily. The article was later carried by state-run Xinhua News Agency and the People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece.
The U.S. has been talking about wanting to continue the negotiations, but in the meantime it has been playing “little tricks to disrupt the atmosphere,” it wrote, citing Trumps steps this week to curb Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co.
“We can’t see the U.S. has any substantial sincerity in pushing forward the talks. Rather, it is expanding extreme pressure,” the blog wrote. “If the U.S. ignores the will of the Chinese people, then it probably won’t get an effective response from the Chinese side,” it added.
The blog reiterated tariff removal, achievable purchase plans and a balanced agreement text as China’s three main concerns, which were first revealed by Vice Premier Liu He. They mark the official stance as much as the will of the Chinese public, it wrote.
“In addition, if anyone thinks the Chinese side is just bluffing, that will be the most significant misjudgment since” Korean War, it said.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said this week that American officials “most likely will go to Beijing at some point” in near future to continue trade talks, before later saying he has “no plans yet to go to China.”
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Miao Han in Beijing at mhan22@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeffrey Black at jblack25@bloomberg.net, James Mayger
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