The Trump administration’s top economic advisor helped keep the door to trade talks with China closed on Wednesday with comments that China’s president was “holding up the game.” Beijing was not amused.
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying placed the blame for trade tensions squarely with Washington, decrying National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow’s “bogus accusations.”
“To begin with, America’s inconsistency and untrustworthiness was already accepted by the world,” Hua said during a regular press briefing on Thursday.
“For the White House official in question to go so far as to distort the facts and make bogus accusations in this way – it exceeds a normal person’s imagination. It’s shocking,” she went on.
In a televised interview on Wednesday, Kudlow blamed China for an impasse in trade negotiations, which began in response to the Trump administration’s policy of unilaterally imposing tariffs to pressure China.
“I do not think [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping] has any intention of following through on any of the discussions we’ve made,” Kudlow said.
“And I think the president [Trump] is so dissatisfied with China on these so-called talks that he is keeping the pressure on and I support that,” he added, shedding light on the US president’s thinking on the trade conflict.
Hua stressed in her comments that the White House approach was not going to be productive.
“The US behavior can only further harm their own credibility and is completely counterproductive to resolving the problem,” she said.
I favour China’s position in this dispute, but to imply that China or any other great power always tells the truth and acts honorably is not realistic. All great powers say and do whatever they think will advance their own interests.
Drump is sure nuts in picking his cabinet. In every aspect of his
government, things have certainly gotten worse for us peasants.