According to a statement from the Chinese Commerce Ministry on Friday, China is “evaluating” a U.S. proposal to initiate talks on tariffs. This change in tone might open the way for the world’s two largest economies to ease the trade tensions that have unsettled global markets.
“The U.S. has recently made efforts on multiple occasions to convey information to China via relevant channels, expressing its willingness to engage in discussions with China,” the ministry stated, as translated by Reuters. The ministry further mentioned that Beijing was in the process of “evaluating this.”
However, while Beijing appears to be open to negotiations, the Chinese Commerce Ministry warned that it would not be forced into making a bad deal. According to the Reuters translation, the ministry said that “attempting to use talks as a pretext to engage in coercion and extortion would not work.”
President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
President Donald Trump announced sweeping global tariffs last month. He slapped a 145% tariff on Chinese imports. Meanwhile, Beijing put a 125% tariff on U.S. imports. However, the country recently waived the tariff on a host of American-made products.
There were already exemptions for some pharmaceuticals, microchips and aircraft engines, but China added an exemption for ethane imports, according to Reuters.
Beijing’s change in messaging regarding the tariffs comes in stark contrast to its April 23 comments during a U.N. Security Council Arria-formula meeting on “The Impact of Unilateralism and Bullying Practices on International Relations.” At that meeting, China accused the U.S. of using tariffs to bully the rest of the world.
China’s President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump. (Getty Images)
“Under the guise of reciprocity and fairness, the U.S. is playing a zero-sum game, which is essentially about subverting the existing international economic and trade order by means of tariffs, putting U.S. interests above the common good of the international community and advancing hegemonic ambitions of the U.S. at the cost of the legitimate interest of all countries,” Chinese U.N. Ambassador Fu Cong said in his opening remarks.
A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the meeting was “a waste of U.N. Security Council members’ time.” The spokesperson also slammed the meeting as an example of China’s manipulation of “the multilateral system to support its economic, political, and security interests.”
