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Beijing is “evaluating” an offer from the US to engage in trade negotiations, the Chinese government has said, a week after Donald Trump claimed talks were already under way.
China’s commerce ministry said on Friday: “The US has recently taken the initiative on many occasions to convey information to China through relevant parties, saying it hopes to talk with China.”
On Thursday, influential commentators in China said the country was ready to engage in talks.
Ren Yi, a nationalist blogger who writes under the nickname Chairman Rabbit, wrote that he had learned from sources that the US had “frequently and proactively contacted the Chinese side through various channels, hoping to negotiate with the Chinese government on economic and trade issues”.
China has denied claims made by US officials that talks were already under way, or that China had initiated them. Trump said last week that Xi Jinping, China’s leader, had called him. China’s foreign ministry accused the US of “misleading the public” on the status of negotiations. Ren wrote: “If China had given in and taken the initiative to give in to the United States, then naturally there would not have been the United States taking the initiative to contact China.”
The commerce ministry said on Friday that Washington needed to show “sincerity” in negotiations and that it should not engage in “coercion and extortion”.
China has repeatedly accused the US of bullying in its approach to trade policies. The two countries have been at loggerheads since Trump launched a new US-China trade war in early April, with US tariffs on Chinese goods now at 145% while China’s retaliatory tariffs have reached 125%.
But although neither side wants to be seen to blink first, the US and China have already introduced a number of exceptions to their respective tariffs to soften the blow of a trade war that risks upending the global economy.
Chinese factory activity slowed in April. The statistics bureau blamed “sharp changes in [China’s] external environment” for the decline.
This week Xi called on officials to adjust to changes in the international environment, although he did not mention the US by name.
Elsewhere, Chinese propaganda has been more explicit. This week the foreign ministry released a video that accused the US of bullying and said that bowing to such behaviour would be like “drinking poison”.
A US executive order to close a multibillion-dollar tariff loophole, known as “de minimis”, came into effect on Friday. The ending of the de minimis regime, which allowed low-value goods to be shipped to the US without paying customs fees, primarily affects Chinese exporters.
Scott Bessent said this week he was confident that China would want to reach a deal. The US treasury secretary said: “First, we need to de-escalate, and then over time, we will start focusing on a larger trade deal.”
