China condemns the recent rise of the Trump administration
A container ship is docked for a port in Qingdao in eastern China's Shandong Province. (AP)
The Chinese Department of Commerce issued a stern statement Saturday saying it "strongly opposes" the Trump administration's decision to raise $ 550 billion in Chinese import tariffs, calling it "protectionist bullying."
The latest developments in the escalating US trade war with China occurred when President Trump and the leaders of some of America's closest allies arrived in France for the 45th annual Group of Seven Summit.
The Chinese statement followed a series of exchanges between Beijing and the Trump administration on Friday, with Beijing announcing that they would introduce new $ 75 billion tariffs on goods, including the reintroduction of car product taxes. Hours later, Trump tweeted that he would respond by raising prices for existing and planned tariffs, saying, "We don't need China, and frankly it would be far better without them."
Trump also demanded that US companies stop doing business with China and ask for reprimands from US businesses and trade groups, including the US Chamber of Commerce.
At the close of trading Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average had dropped 600 points, or nearly 2.4 percent. [19659007] The White House did not respond on Saturday to a request for comment on the Chinese statement, which also urged the United States "not to misjudge the situation, not to underestimate the determination of the Chinese people and to stop injustice immediately."
"The United States is going to reap what they have sown with such one-sided, protectionist bullying and extreme pressure," the statement from an unnamed spokesman also said.
Beijing has sustained steady drumbea t threats to the United States during the trade war, but it has relatively fewer opportunities to respond, as China imports exponentially less from the United States than it exports.
Earlier Saturday, in the hours after the Trump administration announced its latest Taoran Notes, a social media account believed to be run by the Communist Party's economic daily newspaper, said the United States "should not feel surprised" by China's retaliatory tariffs.
"China does not want to fight this trade war," the post states. "But if the US side continues to turn up the heat with radical measures, the only consequence is that American companies in even more fields would be brought home to the fact that there is no winner in a trade war. "
Chinese state media did not respond directly to Trump's tweet suggesting that China's leader, Xi Jinping, was an" enemy "of the United States.
Trump's attack on China may also put him under intense pressure on the G-7, calling a special session to discuss the global economy, repeatedly praising America's economic prowess while saying that economies elsewhere in the world are in trouble.
The performance of the US economy is much more interwoven with global pressure than Trump has acknowledged.
The conflict has taken on a multitude of the globe. China's economic growth has slowed to its lowest rate in 27 years as factory output declines and unemployment increases. Central bank executives in Europe, Asia and Australia have cut interest rates in recent weeks, citing the need for financial stimulus.
Trump on Saturday also tweeted in defense of comments he made during an impromptu news conference he held earlier this week on the trade war, saying he was joking when he said he was "the chosen one" to take on China.
"When I looked up into the sky and jokingly said & # 39; I am the chosen one & # 39 ;, at a press conference two days ago, citing Trade in China, I was little aware of the media would claim that I had a "Messiah complex", "Trump tweeted." [Reporters] knew I was fooling and being sarcastic. "
