China ’firmly rejects’ Trump accusation of violating trade deal
China’s Commerce Ministry on Monday rejected accusations from U.S. President Donald Trump that the country had violated a recent trade agreement signed in Geneva, Switzerland.
China claimed it had “taken seriously, strictly implemented, and actively upheld the consensus reached at the talks with U.S. in Geneva,” the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.
The statement said Washington had "made bogus charges and unreasonably accused China of violating the consensus, which is seriously contrary to the facts".
"China firmly rejects these unreasonable accusations," the commerce ministry statement said.
Trump had late last week lashed out against China for allegedly violating several aspects of the Geneva agreement, although he did not specify what the violations were.
While the Geneva deal did see Beijing and Washington slash trade tariffs against each other, their rhetoric remained largely abrasive.
China had repeatedly criticized Washington’s recent placing of tighter controls on its chipmaking industry, arguing that the controls threatened to undermine the Geneva agreement.
Trump’s administration had last week admitted that talks with China had stalled, and that direct dialogue between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump may be required to resume dialogue.
Washington and Beijing became embroiled in a bitter tariff exchange this year, after Trump imposed steep tariffs against the country, drawing retaliatory duties from China.
While the Geneva deal did see tariffs being lowered sharply, they still remained at historically high levels. A slew of recent economic data also showed the impact of the tariffs on China’s economy.
Source: Investing.com
