During the China Development Forum in Beijing, the country’s Vice Premier Han Zheng warned that a trade war would be harmful to all the parties involved, however he did not disclose the potential retaliatory measures Beijing could undertake against the US.
"A trade war serves the interests of none. It will only lead to serious consequences and negative impact,” he said.
While Han did not mention President Trump’s name, his remarks came two days after China’s Commerce Ministry unveiled a $3 billion list of US goods, such as pork, wine and aluminum scrap, it is considering for import taxes in response to Trump’s approval of higher tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and a possible tariff hike on $30 billion worth of Chinese goods.
Earlier this week, Liu He, Vice Premier and an economic advisor to Xi Jinping, held a phone conversation with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to express Beijing’s readiness “to defend its national interests” and hopes “for both sides remaining rational.”
President Donald Trump recently signed a memo imposing $60 billion in extra tariffs on China over allegations of intellectual theft, adding to tensions between Beijing and Washington over trade policy. In response to freshly introduced tariffs on Chinese goods, Beijing, which has been the world’s largest importer of waste and recycle commodities for a long time, refused to lift its ban on the import of foreign garbage, leaving Washington and other nations desperately searching for alternatives to dispose of their waste.
READ MORE: US Trade Measures Against China 'Wicked Precedent' — Chinese Commerce Ministry
Chinese authorities have urged the United States to reconsider the move, saying they would take retaliatory measures against in the event new tariffs being imposed on Chinese products.