Reuters

BEIJING: China called President Donald Trump&#39;s latest US tariffs on Chinese goods hypocritical on Sunday and defended its curbs on exports of rare earths, but stopped short of imposing new levies on US products.&nbsp;The commerce ministry said in a statement its export controls on rare-earth elements - which Trump on Friday called &quot;surprising&quot; and &quot;very hostile&quot; - followed a series of US measures since bilateral trade talks in Madrid last month.&nbsp;Beijing cited the addition of Chinese companies to a US trade blacklist and Washington&#39;s imposition of port fees on Chinese vessels as examples.&nbsp;&quot;These actions have severely harmed China&#39;s interests and undermined the atmosphere for bilateral economic and trade talks. China firmly opposes them,&quot; the ministry said.&nbsp;Beijing stopped short of explicitly linking these US actions to its curbs on exports of critical minerals, stating that its curbs were motivated by concerns about the military applications of these metals at a time of &quot;frequent military conflict.&quot; Tensions flare againA few months ago, Beijing and Washington agreed on an uneasy truce in their tit-for-tat trade war that started earlier this year and threw bilateral trade into serious jeopardy.&nbsp;But tensions have boiled up again in recent days.&nbsp;China said on Friday that it would impose &quot;special port fees&quot; on ships operated by and built in the US, calling it a &quot;defensive action.&quot;&nbsp;It aimed at the US&#39;s own port fees charged on Chinese ships, claiming they &quot;severely harmed China&#39;s interests.&quot;&nbsp;Washington announced those fees in April as part of an effort to revive American shipbuilding after a decades-long decline that has seen China and other Asian nations come to dominate the industry.

Business

The commerce ministry says its export controls on rare-earth elements - which Trump on Friday called "surprising" and "very hostile" - follow a series of US measures since bilateral trade talks in Madrid last month.

Beijing blames US for raising trade tensions, defends rare earth curbs

BEIJING: A group of US lawmakers on a rare visit to Beijing raised a deal with top Chinese leaders which would see China commit to buying more Boeing jets, Adam Smith, a US Democratic Representative, told a press conference on Tuesday.&nbsp;US Ambassador to China David Purdue said he thought the negotiations had entered their last days or weeks, adding that the deal is &quot;very important to the president.&quot;&nbsp;Boeing is in talks to sell as many as 500 jets to China, Bloomberg reported last month. That would represent a major breakthrough for the company in the world&#39;s second-largest aviation market, where orders have stalled amid US-China trade tensions.&nbsp;&quot;It&#39;s been a while since Boeing airplanes have been sold here in China. We&#39;d like to get that deal done,&quot; said Smith, who is leading the bipartisan delegation, when asked about the deal. &quot;It&#39;s a good company, good product, hope you get back to selling airplanes in China.&quot;&nbsp;The visit, which began Sunday, marks the first House of Representatives delegation to China since 2019, after which US-China relations deteriorated during the coronavirus pandemic.&nbsp;It follows a Friday conversation between President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, as the world&#39;s two largest economies look to improve relations beyond their current tariff truce.&nbsp;Boeing is one of the largest US exporters and historically sent around a quarter of its planes to China, though it has not secured a major Chinese purchase since Trump&#39;s first term in office.&nbsp;Purdue said he had visited Boeing&#39;s plant in Tianjin last week, a city 150 km (95 miles) southeast of the Chinese capital. &#39;More military dialogue&#39;&nbsp;The lawmakers met China&#39;s second-ranking official Li Qiang on Sunday, and with economy tsar He Lifeng and Defence Minister Dong Jun on Monday, raising the need for more military dialogue.&nbsp;&quot;I think when you&#39;re getting up into the hundreds, close to a thousand nuclear weapons, it&#39;s time to start having a conversation about it to make sure we understand each other and we don&#39;t stumble into any sort of conflict,&quot; Smith told the press conference at the US embassy in Beijing.&nbsp;Adam Smith is the current top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, which oversees the US Defense Department and armed forces.&nbsp;While Trump has been particularly vocal about his tariff policy - singling China out for duties in excess of 100% earlier this year before walking the bulk of them back - US restrictions on semiconductor chips, Chinese activities in the South China Sea, and matters related to Taiwan, and TikTok&#39;s ownership also cloud the relationship.&nbsp;Another member of the delegation, Democratic Representative Ro Khanna, whose jurisdiction covers Silicon Valley, has been vocal on tech and economic competition with China.

US China relations, US China trade talks, US tarifss

Americas

The delegation says it wants to open up lines of communication between the United States and China, particularly on military capabilities and emerging technologies.

US House lawmakers raised Boeing deal on rare China visit, delegate says

WASHINGTON: U.S. President Donald Trump urged EU officials on Tuesday to hit China with tariffs of up to 100% as part of a strategy to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a U.S. official and an EU diplomat.&nbsp;Trump also encouraged the European Union to slap India with similarly expansive tariffs, said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.&nbsp;The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here.&nbsp;China and India are major purchasers of Russian oil and, as such, they play a vital role in keeping Russia&#39;s economy afloat as it continues to pursue its expanded invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2022.&nbsp;Trump made the request, which was conveyed via conference call, to EU sanctions envoy David O&#39;Sullivan and other EU officials. The EU delegation is currently in Washington to discuss sanctions coordination.&nbsp;The EU diplomat said the U.S. had indicated it was willing to impose similar tariffs if the European Union heeded the U.S. request.&nbsp;&quot;They are basically saying: We&#39;ll do this, but you need to do it with us,&quot; the diplomat said.&nbsp;The U.S. request, if heeded, would result in a change of strategy for the EU, which has preferred to isolate Russia with sanctions rather than tariffs.&nbsp;China firmly opposes the U.S. applying such so-called economic pressure, its foreign ministry said at a regular press briefing on Wednesday, adding that it also opposed the using of China in discussions on Russia.&nbsp;Trump, whose request was first reported by the Financial Times, has frequently threatened to impose tariffs on India and China as punishment for their purchases of Russian crude.&nbsp;While Trump did hike tariffs on India over the summer by 25 percentage points in part due to its economic relationship with the Kremlin, Trump has yet to pull the trigger on the more punishing options he has floated.&nbsp;At times, he has complained that Europe itself has not fully decoupled from Russia, which supplied about 19% of EU gas imports last year although the bloc says it is committed to fully ending its dependency on Russian energy.&nbsp;Later on Tuesday, Trump suggested that the U.S. could in fact boost trade with India, writing in an evening social media post that the U.S. and India are working to address trade barriers between the nations. He added that he was looking forward to speaking with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

India

Trump urges EU to impose 100% tariffs on China and India to pressure Putin over Russian oil ties, signaling the U.S. may take similar actions if EU agrees.

Articles tagged with "US tariffs on China"

Beijing blames US for raising trade tensions, defends rare earth curbs

US House lawmakers raised Boeing deal on rare China visit, delegate says

Trump urges EU to impose China, India tariffs to pressure Putin

Beijing blames US for raising trade tensions, defends rare earth curbs