USAs president Donald Trump og Kinas president Xi Jinping under et møte i Beijing i 2017. Foto: Damir Sagolj / Reuters / Scanpix.
Handelssamtalene mellom USA og Kina ble fredag avsluttet uten at det ble enighet om noen avtale mellom de to landene, og Trump-administrasjonen overveier å trappe opp handelskrigen med toll på enda flere importvarer, melder Fox News.
In a statement Friday evening, a trade representative for the United States said Trump had “ordered us to begin the process of raising tariffs on essentially all remaining imports from China, which are valued at approximately $300 billion.”
Earlier reports said the Trump administration had set a one-month deadline for China to agree to a trade deal or face the punitive tariffs. The threat of additional tariffs — at 25 percent — would be placed on $325 billion in Chinese goods, according to Bloomberg. News of the impasse comes hours after the U.S. imposed a second round of tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese products as retaliation for China walking back on its commitments.
Den amerikanske presidenten ønsker tilsynelatende ikke å forsure forhandlingsklimaet ytterligere, og sier han har et sterkt forhold til Kinas president Xi. Samtalene vil fortsette, sier Trump.
Også på kinesisk side holder man en lav verbal profil:
China’s top negotiator, Vice Premier Liu He, said in a Friday interview on China-state television that both sides agreed to keep talking despite what he called “some temporary resistance and distractions.»
Det er Kina som har mest å tape på redusert handel med USA, og Trump signaliserer at han enn så lenge er fornøyd med tollen på kinesiske varer:
Talks with China continue in a very congenial manner – there is absolutely no need to rush – as Tariffs are NOW being paid to the United States by China of 25% on 250 Billion Dollars worth of goods & products. These massive payments go directly to the Treasury of the U.S….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2019
I det som tegner til å bli en kald krig mellom USA og Kina, fremstår Trumps fremgangsmåte som et ledd i en langsiktig strategi for mindre handelssamkvem mellom verdens to største økonomier.
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