Chinese Officials Warn Retaliation if Trump Presidency Imposes Tariffs

Beijing Officials Warn that Tariffs on China will mean tariffs on US imports
WASHINGTON, DC — Chinese officials has warned USA of a trade war if Trump's Presidency imposes new tariffs on Chinese imports.

In an interview with Financial Times,  US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker stated that during a meeting after the US November election, Chinese officials informed US counterparts that they would have no choice but to respond to trade measures taken by the President-elect's administration.

“The Chinese leadership said to me ‘If you guys put an import duty on us we are going to do it on you’,” stated Ms Pritzker. “And then they said: ‘That will be bad for both of us’.” In addition, she further stated that the next administration needed to decide “the fine line between being tough and a trade war”, warning that such a confrontation would have an “enormous consequence” for USA. The move highlights the concern in China over the risk to relations presented by Mr Trump, who has also offended Beijing by breaking with traditional US policy on Taiwan.

Japanese officials and top executives also pushed back against President-elect Donald Trump, warning on Friday of fallout for US-Japanese trade and investment if he followed through on his call to impose a border tax to stop automakers from building a new plant in Mexico.

Mr. Donald Trump and his advisers argue that since China’s 2001 entry into the World Trade Organization it has been competing unfairly and has caused the loss of millions of American jobs, particularly in manufacturing.
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“I think the competition is very stiff and I don’t think we should take for granted the fact that the United States has been the number one place in the world to invest for the past four years,” said Ms Pritzker. “Many of the companies that invest here do so because of the ability to make here and sell elsewhere. BMW is a great example. They export more cars from the United States than they do from Germany. We want that. It’s great. It’s good for America. Those are good American jobs.”