Reuters: China says U.S. demand on its state-owned enterprises is 'invasion' on economic sovereignty
BEIJING (Reuters) - The United States has called on China to curb the development of its state-owned enterprises (SOEs), a demand that China sees as an “invasion” on its economic sovereignty, Chinese state news agency Xinhua said on Saturday.
Trade tensions between Washington and Beijing escalated sharply earlier this month after the Trump 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.
As trade talks stalled, both sides have appeared to be digging in. China has denied it had walked back on its promises but reiterated it would not make concessions to “matters of principles” to defend its core interests, although no full details were given.
“At the negotiating table, the U.S. government presented a number of arrogant demands to China, including restricting the development of state-owned enterprises,” Xinhua said in a commentary.
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Update #1: China ramps up war of rhetoric in trade standoff with US (AP)
Update #2: China state media accuses US of seeking to 'colonize global business' (The Hill)
WNU Editor: This trade war is already entrenched .... Risk of entrenched U.S. trade war with China is rising, economists say (CBS). And with China continuing to refuse to lower its trade deficit with the U.S. while maintaining restrictive trade barriers, this economic war is only going to continue. The only thing that I find perplexing about this entire story is China' willingness to gamble its annual $400 billion trade surplus with the U.S. by continuing to break promises to buy U.S. products and to lower barriers to American goods. I do not understand where they get their confidence that the status quo will return if they stand their ground, because from my perspective they will lose.