Beijing mouthpieces rally the people for American trade war

China’s state newsagency has declared nothing — not even Donald Trump will stop the eople from “pursuing a better life”.

Donald Trump meets administration and state officials on prison reform at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, yesterday. Picture: AFP

As Beijing wrestles with how to handle Donald Trump’s increasingly aggressive stance on trade, its state newsagency has declared that nothing will stop the people from “pursuing a better life”.

Xinhua hit out at critics of China’s role as a rising economic superpower. “Some people out there are loath to see a lion awaken or a dragon take off, feeling uncomfortable with a population of more than 1.3 billion living a better life,” it said in an article.

Published under the byline “Xuanyan”, the article said China was determined to create a better life for its citizens, “come rain or shine”. This involved having to face up to critics who were “seeking unilateralism, protectionism and trade bullying”.

The article and other sentiments expressed in China come as Beijing assesses its next steps in dealing with the barrage of trade salvos being fired from Washington by a belligerent Trump.

In early July the US President imposed 25 per cent tariffs on $US34 billion ($46bn) worth of imports from China, including flat-screen televisions, medical devices and aircraft parts — the first tranche of tariffs on $US50bn worth of imports announced earlier in the year. China responded with 25 per cent tariffs on $US34bn of US imports, including soybeans and cars.

Trump stepped up the pressure last week, vowing to consider imposing 25 per cent tariffs on $US200bn worth of imports from China. Last Friday, China hit back, announcing that it would look to impose tariffs on another $US60bn worth of US goods. But it urged the Trump ­administration to “calm down” and begin negotiations.

Trump upped the ante again this week by announcing tariffs on $US16bn of Chinese imports — the second tranche of the $US50bn threatened earlier this year — would operate from ­August 23. China followed up with its $US16bn worth of US ­imports to be hit by 25 per cent tariffs.

Trump’s moves were a rebuke to China’s efforts to have the issue resolved by negotiation or the World Trade Organisation.

Beijing’s bargaining stance is limited by the imbalance in its trade with the US. It sells more than $US500bn in goods to the US a year, while the US only sells $US130bn worth to China. Trump’s anti-China views were made clear this week with reports he spent the night at a private dinner party attacking China.

The question which Chinese leaders are considering now is what next in the US-China trade war? How to keep face by vowing not to give in to bullies, but get some talks with Washington back on track to head off a worsening situation? Two weeks ago there were reports there had been private talks going on between Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to look at ways to restart talks. But that now ­appears to have gone nowhere.

The events of the past few weeks led to calls by commentator Xu Yimiao, in the South China Morning Post yesterday, for China to swallow its pride and seek direct talks with Trump.

Comments in Xinhua and the China Daily were a rallying cry to the nation, putting the case that China’s 40 years of opening up and reform were not only working, but justified in bringing its billion-plus citizens out of poverty towards “moderate prosperity” by 2020. They argued China’s modernisation had benefited the world economy.

China Daily, in an editorial yesterday, argued trade problems needed to be addressed within the “framework of the world trading regime”. It declared China would “not cave in to the US threats and blackmail” which were “a characteristic of Washington’s trade protectionism and unilateralism”. “China and its people will not lose heart in their defence of the free-trade regime and the pursuit of a better world with a shared future,” it said.