China calls US trade actions 'shocking', 'totally unacceptable'
Beijing, July 11 : China on Wednesday expressed "shock" and solemn protest against the US' announcement of fresh tariffs, calling it "totally unacceptable".
The US on Tuesday listed $200 billion worth of additional products it intended to place tariffs on as soon as September. The move followed just days after the two countries imposed tit-for-tat tariffs of $34 billion on each other's goods
Washington said that the new tariffs of 10 per cent were adopted in retaliation for Beijing's response to the first set of taxes imposed by the US administration.
In response, a spokesperson of China's Commerce Ministry said: "The US has unveiled the list of tariffs in an escalating manner. This is totally unacceptable, and we express our solemn protest against this."
"By doing this, the US is hurting China, hurting the whole world and hurting itself. The irrational act goes against the will of the people.
"China is shocked by what the US did. To defend the core interests of the nation and the fundamental interests of the people, the Chinese government will, as always, be forced to take necessary countermeasures.
"In the meantime, we appeal to the international community to jointly defend free trade rules and the multilateral trade regime and fight trade bullying," the spokesperson was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.
China said it will "immediately lodge an additional complaint with the WTO over the unilateral acts of the US".
The US list named more than 6,000 items including food products, minerals and consumer goods such as handbags.
The public will have until the end of August to comment on the list before the new tariffs come into effect.
Asian stock markets fell sharply on Wednesday as investors shunned risk amid escalating trade tensions between the two economic giants.
In China, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 1.6 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite fell 2 per cent. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index shed 1.2 per cent.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
