China considering cancelling trade talks with US: media reports
Washington: China is considering to cancel the high-level trade talks with the US, multiple media reports have said, hours after President Donald Trump threatened to impose more punishing tariffs on USD 200 billion worth of Chinese products.
President Trump's remarks came on Sunday as the two countries locked in a longstanding trade war seemed near to striking a trade deal.
A high-level Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He was scheduled to be in Washington this week to resume talks aimed at resolving the trade war that has cast gloom over the world economy.
"China is considering cancelling trade talks that are to resume in Washington starting Wednesday," The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday quoting unnamed sources.
"There has been widespread expectations in recent days that an accord could be reached by Friday," it said.
Quoting an unnamed source, CNBC News said the Chinese Vice Premier will likely cancel the trip he had planned for himself and a 100-person delegation for the final round of talks.
The US officials had previously said that a deal could be reached by Friday.
But Trump's tweets surprised many and appear to reflect on the difficulties in the US-China trade negotiations that have been going on since December when the US president and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed to work on a trade deal within a time frame of 100 days.
"For 10 months, China has been paying tariffs to the USA of 25 per cent on 50 billion dollars of High Tech, and 10 per cent on 200 billion dollars of other goods," Trump said in a series of tweets on Sunday. These payments are partially responsible for America's great economic results, he said.
"The 10 per cent will go up to 25 per cent on Friday. 325 billions dollars of additional goods sent to us by China remain untaxed, but will be shortly, at a rate of 25 per cent," he said.
Trump said the tariffs paid to the US have had little impact on product cost, mostly borne by China. "The Trade Deal with China continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate. No!" he tweeted.
The Wall Street Journal report said that Trump's tweet had taken Beijing by surprise.
"China shouldn't negotiate with a gun pointed to its head," an unnamed Chinese person was quoted as saying in the report.
A decision on whether to go ahead with the talks this week has not been made, the report said.
The Chinese officials have said Beijing would not bend to pressure tactics. By potentially scotching the trip, Beijing would be following up on its pledge to avoid negotiating under threat, it said.
Trump's latest move will raise duties on more than 5,000 products made by Chinese producers, ranging from chemicals to textiles and consumer goods.
The US president originally imposed a 10 per cent tariff on these goods in September that was due to rise in January, but postponed this as negotiations advanced.
In Argentina, Trump agreed not to increase the import tariffs on Chinese products till an agreement is reached in 100 days. The deadline ended in March, which was extended by Trump and he did not increase the import tariffs.
Last month, Trump said the US and China could wrap up trade talks within four weeks after making quick progress on the potentially "epic" deal.
"We will probably know over the next four weeks. It may take two weeks after that.... It's looking very good," Trump had said.
He said a deal would allow a summit between him and Chinese President Xi.
Since last year when Trump launched a trade war with China, the US and China have imposed slapped tariffs on USD 360 billion in two-way trade.
The US has imposed tariffs on USD 250 billion of Chinese goods, having accused the country of unfair trade practices.
Beijing hit back with duties on USD 110 billion of US goods, blaming the US for starting "the largest trade war in economic history".
Both the US and international firms have said they are being harmed by the trade war.
Fears about a further escalation caused a slump in world stock markets towards the end of last year.
The IMF has warned a full-blown trade war would weaken the global economy.
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Ex-PM Devegowda warns opposition of electoral losses if they continue to allege 'vote chori'
New Delhi (PTI): Former Prime Minister H D Devegowda on Monday said the Opposition parties would "suffer" if they continue to raise allegations of "vote chori" and create suspicion in the minds of voters by blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.
Participating in a discussion on election reforms in the Rajya Sabha, he criticised the Opposition for making a mockery about the Prime Minister "in the streets and on the public platform".
"This (India) is a very big country. A large country. Congress may be in three states. Remember my friends please, by using the words 'vote chori' you are going to suffer in the coming days. You are not going to win the battle," Devegowda said, referring to the Opposition members.
He asked what the Opposition is going to earn by "blaming Narendra Modi's leadership and creating a suspicion in the mind of the voters" through the claims of "vote chori".
"What has happened to their minds? Let them rectify," Devegowda said.
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The former prime minister said that during his over seven decades of public life, he has never raised such issues of vote theft despite facing defeat in elections.
He also cited a letter written by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru regarding inclusion of "18,000 votes" (voters) in Kerala.
"Why I am telling this (because) during the Nehru period also, there were certain lapses in the electoral system," said Devegowda, who was the prime minister between June 1, 1996 and April 21, 1997.
He said that the Congress party faced defeat in the recent Bihar elections despite raising the issues of mistakes in the electoral rolls.
"What happened after that even after so much review (of voters list). Think (for) yourself! You got six MLAs," the senior Janata Dal (Secular) leader said.
Devegowda questioned the Opposition as to why they want to make allegations against the prime minister on the issue of the voters list?
"Election Commission is there. Supreme Court is there. The Election Commission has given direction to all the state units to rectify all these things," he said.
Devegowda said people of the country have full confidence in Narendra Modi's government and it will come back to power after the next Lok Sabha elections as well.
K R Suresh Reddy, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party's Rajya Sabha member from Telangana, said that electoral reforms are the backbone for a healthy democracy.
He said a large and diverse nation like Indi needs clean electoral rolls.
Asserting that strict re-verification should not become a mechanism for exclusion, Reddy said no eligible voter should lose their right to vote simply because accessing paperwork is difficult.
He said while the concern definitely is on the voters' exclusion, "we should also be equally concerned about the percentage of voting."
"What is happening in voting today? Once the election ends, the drama begins. The biggest challenge that the Indian democracy has been facing in spite of two major Constitutional amendments has been the anti-defection. Anti-defection is the name of the game today, especially in smaller states, especially where the legislatures are small in number," Reddy said.
The senior BRS leader suggested creation of a parliamentary committee "which would constantly look into the defection" and "ways and means to cutting that".
AIADMK's M Thambidurai raised the issues related to election campaigning.
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"Election campaigns are one of the important election processes. In that, political parties must be given the proper chance to campaign," he said and cited problems faced by his party in Tamil Nadu in this regard.
Thambidurai said political parties were facing hardships in Tamil Nadu to conduct public meetings and to express their views to the public.
YSRCP's Yerram Venkata Subba Reddy stressed on bringing electoral reforms at both the state and national levels.
He also suggested replacing Electronic Voting Machines with paper ballots in all future elections.
"EVM may be efficient but can't be trusted. Paper ballot may not be efficient but can be trusted. You need trust in democracy," Reddy added.
