Donald Trump blames Xi Jinping for trade war in anti-China rant

China’s ruling Communist Party has unleashed a furious attack on the US and Donald Trump, warning Beijing will not be bullied.

Donald Trump has lashed out at China as the trade war between the two countries intensifies.

In a string of more than 10 tweets overnight, the US president blasted China for walking away from an almost finished deal, and complained he was sick of America being a “piggy bank that everyone wants to raid and take advantage of,” adding “NO MORE!”

Mr Trump blamed Chinese President Xi Jinping for the escalating trade battle that is fuelling fears about damage to global economic growth.

President Donald Trump speaks to the media in the Oval Office on May 13, 2019 in Washington, DC. Picture: AFP

“We can make a deal with China tomorrow, before their companies start leaving so as not to lose USA business, but the last time we were close they wanted to renegotiate the deal. No way!” he said.

“We are in a much better position now than any deal we could have made.”

Mr Trump handballed President Xi, saying if necessary he would bail out American farmers, who are being hardest hit by the tariffs.

China buys MUCH less from us than we buy from them, by almost 500 Billion Dollars, so we are in a fantastic position. Make your product at home in the USA and there is no Tariff. You can also buy from a non-Tariffed country instead of China. Many companies are leaving China.....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 14, 2019

....so that they will be more competitive for USA buyers. We are now a much bigger economy than China, and have substantially increased in size since the great 2016 Election. We are the “piggy bank” that everyone wants to raid and take advantage of. NO MORE!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 14, 2019

“Hopefully China will do us the honour of continuing to buy our great farm product, the best, but if not [the US] will be making up the difference based on a very high China buy … This money will come from the massive tariffs being paid to the United States for allowing China, and others, to do business with us.”

CHINA REACTS

But as US officials listed $300 billion more of Chinese goods for possible tariff hikes, Beijing vowed on Tuesday to “fight to the finish”

In a strongly worded editorial, published by both the Xinhua News Agency and the Communist Party’s mouthpiece People’s Daily, the US was savaged for its “greed and arrogance”.

“The trade war in the United States is the creation of one person and his administration who have swept along the entire population of the country. Whereas the entire country and all the people of China are being threatened. For us, this is a real ‘people’s war,’” the editorial stated.

State broadcaster CCTV said China would “fight for a new world,” and said in its long history “there’s nothing” China hadn’t seen before.

“As President Xi Jinping pointed out, the Chinese economy is a sea, not a small pond. A rainstorm can destroy a small pond, but it cannot harm the sea. After numerous storms, the sea is still there,” anchor Kang Hui said.

“China will fight to the finish,” said a foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang.

“We have the determination and capacity to safeguard our interests,” Mr Geng said.

“China’s countermeasures have shown our determination to safeguard the multilateral trade system.”

Also on Tuesday, China’s tightly controlled social media were filled with comments lambasting Washington following weeks of little online discussion of the dispute.

That suggested official censors might have blocked earlier comments but started allowing those that favour Beijing to deflect potential criticism of President Xi Jinping’s government.

The United States is “sucking the blood of the Chinese,” said a comment left on the “Strong Country” blog published by the People’s Daily.

Another comment on the site said, “Why are Chinese people bullied? Because our hearts are too soft!”

SPIRALLING DISPUTE

The US Trade Representative’s Office issued its target list after Beijing announced tariff hikes on Monday on $60 billion of American goods in their spiralling dispute over Chinese technology ambitions and other irritants.

Chinese authorities were reacting to President Donald Trump’s surprise decision last week to impose punitive duties on $200 billion of imports from China.

On November 9, 2017, US President Donald Trump chats with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Picture: AP

The latest US list of 3805 product categories is a step toward carrying out Mr Trump’s May 5 threat to extend punitive 25 per cent duties to all Chinese imports, the USTR said.

It said a June 17 hearing would be held before Washington decides how to proceed.

The list “covers essentially all products” not already affected by punitive tariffs, the USTR said.

It includes laptop computers, saw blades, turbine parts, tuna and garlic. The USTR noted it excludes pharmaceuticals and rare earths minerals used in electronics and batteries.

“The risk of further escalation is far from over,” said Timme Spakman of ING in a report.

Mr Trump started raising tariffs last July over complaints China steals or pressures foreign companies to hand over technology and unfairly subsidises businesses Beijing is trying to build into global leaders in robotics and other fields.

A stumbling block has been US insistence on an enforcement mechanism with penalties to ensure Beijing carries out its commitments.

A container ship sits docked at the Port of Oakland, California on May 13, 2019. Pic: AFP

Odds of a settlement “remain high,” said Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics in a report.

“But suddenly a number of other scenarios seem possible, even one in which the US, China and the global economy suffer a recession.”

Asian stock markets fell on Tuesday as the fight, with no negotiated settlement in sight, fed investor anxiety about the impact on global economic growth.

China main market index lost 0.7 per cent while Tokyo’s benchmark declined 0.6% while Hong Kongand Taiwan also fell.

The ASX was rocked by the latest escalation, with shares plummeting at the opening.

The market was down 1.4% on early trading, just hours after Beijing announced the tariff increase on US goods.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 72.3 points in just 15 minutes.

But shares in Europe rebounded and the future contracts for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S & P 500 were up 0.5 per cent and 0.6 per cent, respectively.

On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.4 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 3.4 per cent for its biggest drop of the year.

That came after China’s Finance Ministry announced duties of 5 per cent to 25 per cent on about 5200 American products, including batteries, spinach and coffee.

Details of what the duties were before the increases were unclear.

.@SenateMajLdr on China: "Ultimately, nobody wins a trade war." pic.twitter.com/RfVwuLdJnf

— CSPAN (@cspan) May 14, 2019

Also on Monday, Mr Trump said he still was considering whether to go ahead with penalties on the additional $300 billion of Chinese goods. He told reporters, “I have not made that decision yet.”

The last round of negotiations ended Friday in Washington with no word of progress. Both governments indicated more talks are likely but set no date.

Mr Trump said on Monday he would meet Mr Xi during the Group of 20 meeting of major economies six weeks from now on June 28 and 29 in Osaka, Japan.

Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Tuesday, May 14, 2019. Picture: AP

The time before then will be “highly volatile” for financial markets, said Macquarie Bank analysts in a report.

“Both sides have the incentive to act half-crazy and unpredictable before that in order to cut a better deal,” they said.

The two governments have given themselves a few more days to make peace before their latest tariff hikes hit.

Chinese tariffs announced on Monday don’t take effect until June 1, two weeks from now. The US increases apply to Chinese goods shipped starting on Friday, which will take about three weeks to cross the Pacific and arrive at US ports.

Tariff increases already in place have disrupted trade in American soybeans and Chinese medical equipment. That has sent shockwaves through other Asian economies that supply Chinese factories.

Beijing is running out of US imports to penalise because of their lopsided trade balance. Chinese regulators have instead targeted American companies in China by slowing down the clearing of shipments through customs and the processing of business licenses.