‘US-initiated trade war spreading harm around world’

Canberra, Sep 5 (IANS) Chinese Ambassador to Australia Cheng Jingye has said that Beijing rejects escalation of the US-initiated trade war, which is spreading harm around the world.

In a signed article published on the Australian Financial Review, Cheng Jingye said that the most recent decision by the US government to impose additional tariffs on Chinese imports was a "gross violation" of the Osaka consensus reached by the Chinese and US Presidents.

"Furthermore, it tramples on multilateral trading rules, harms both countries' interests, threatens the global industrial and supply chain, and drags down global trade and economy," said the article cited by Xinhua news agency.

"Should the US follow through on extending all tariffs to 25 per cent, the aggregate loss over the next 10 years would amount to 1 trillion US dollars," said Cheng.

The price of the US administration's tariffs will be paid by common American households, he noted, saying: "JPMorgan researchers estimate that American families will have to pay 1,000 dollars in additional costs annually."

In the article, the Ambassador said that the trade war affected not just China and the US.

"Germany and Britain have already registered contraction in the second quarter. Growth in Italy stagnated. Export-oriented economies in Asia are among the first to suffer," he said, adding that there has been a lot of concern in Australia over the impact of the trade war on the nation's economy.

"By unilaterally imposing tariffs, the US has circumvented the WTO dispute settlement system and breached the most fundamental principles and rules of the WTO," said Cheng. "It broke the international trade rules and wrecked the multilateral trade system."

The Ambassador rejected the US accusation of China about IP theft and forced technology transfer. "After over 40 years of reform and opening up, China has made notable achievements in technological innovation. In 2018, the contribution of China's scientific and technological progress to its economic growth is expected to exceed 58.5 per cent," he said.