China Responds to Trump Threats: “We Will Not Back Down”
China responded today to Trump’s tweets threatening to raise tariffs and add more. Quoting the ‘Peoples Daily’ from its WeChat public account, “Things that are unfavourable to us, no matter how you ask, we will not take any step back. Do not even think about it.”
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The South China Morning Post reported today that Chinese State Media has responded to the threats in Trump’s tweets from Sunday to raise Tariffs, as well as adding new tariffs on additional goods.
After first blocking media mentions or screen shots of Trump’s twitter threats early Monday, Beijing responded with defiance and even attempted a bit of theatrics, “Do Not Even Think About It” was the “Dirty Harry-esque” headline in the Hong Kong news outlet’s article cited above.
In spite of the heated rhetoric and brinkmanship from both sides, the Chinese Government still plans to send an envoy to the talks, although no time frame was specified.
From the U.S. perspective, according to the Trump administration, the talks are progressing “too slowly” and a mechanism for holding China accountable to reduce intellectual property violations and open up its economy is as yet undefined.
The harsh stances on either side to date, however, do not rule out the possibility that both can claim “victory” after looking tough at home, after ultimately announcing some kind of agreement to end the tensions and the tariffs. While this may even be the likely outcome, the potential for higher tariff percentages and new levies on other goods (on both sides) are a serious possible reality going forward.
Quoting the ‘Peoples Daily’ from its WeChat public account: “Things that are unfavourable to us, no matter how you ask, we will not take any step back. Do not even think about it.”