The United States cannot use pressure to force a trade deal on China, a senior Chinese official and trade negotiator said on Sunday, refusing to be drawn on whether the leaders of the two countries would meet at the G20 summit to bash out an agreement.
Trade tensions rose sharply last month after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration accused China of having “reneged” on its previous promises to make structural changes to its economic practices.
Washington later slapped additional tariffs of up to 25% on $200 billion of Chinese goods, prompting Beijing to retaliate.
Speaking at a news conference, Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen said it was irresponsible of the United States to accuse China of backtracking.
“If the U.S. side wants to use extreme pressure, to escalate the trade friction, to force China to submit and make concessions, this is absolutely impossible,” said Wang, who has been part of China’s negotiating team.
Switching into English, he said: “Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”.
“During the consultations, China has overcome many difficulties and put forward pragmatic solutions. However, the U.S. has backtracked, and when you give them an inch, they want a yard,” he said.
Wang said the U.S. had made “unreasonably high” demands and insisted on adding “demands relating to China’s sovereign rights” to the countries’ agreement. The raising of tariffs escalated tensions and severely frustrated the talks, he added.
His comments were echoed by Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe at a defense forum in Singapore on Sunday.
“If the U.S. wants to talk, we will keep the door open. If they want a fight, we will fight till the end,” Wei said.
