While resolutely opposing the escalation of the trade war between the United States and China, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, who has been leading the talks with Washington, said that his country wants to make use of “calm” negotiations to resolve the trade war that has been ongoing between the two largest economies of the world for more than a year.

The acrimonious trade war between the two countries was escalated significantly last week after United States president Donald Trump imposing fresh round of tariffs and then increasing already existing tariffs on Chinese goods worth $550 billion as retaliation to China announcing imposition of tariffs on US imports into the country worth $75 billion.

Trump however turned soft on his earlier threat of ordering US companies to move out of China.

No one benefited from a trade war, said Liu while speaking at a tech conference in southwest China’s Chongqing.

“We are willing to resolve the issue through consultations and cooperation in a calm attitude and resolutely oppose the escalation of the trade war,” Liu, who is President Xi Jinping’s top economic adviser, said, according to a government transcript. “We believe that the escalation of the trade war is not beneficial for China, the United States, nor to the interests of the people of the world,” he added.

Liu said that China especially welcomes American companies and that they would be treated well. “We welcome enterprises from all over the world, including the United States, to invest and operate in China,” he added.

“We will continue to create a good investment environment, protect intellectual property rights, promote the development of smart intelligent industries with our market open, resolutely oppose technological blockades and protectionism, and strive to protect the completeness of the supply chain.”

There is however little clarity about how American companies could be made to leave China by the US administration.

The International Emergency Economic Powers Act would be used by Trump if the president declared a national emergency in order to force companies out of China, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

The ongoing US-China trade war has affected the global financial markets and stoked fears that the global economy could be pushed into recession.

The US was severely criticized on Monday by the Chinese state media.

Washington would “never be allowed to control China’s fate”, said the official China Daily in an editorial. “It has become unquestionably clear that his administration’s tariff war against China is politically motivated. What Washington wants from its largest trade partner is for it to be content to play second fiddle and meekly do as it demands,” the English-language paper wrote in an editorial.

“Washington has again taken the initiative to escalate the fight in the hope that Beijing will throw in the sponge as early as possible. But Beijing regards the trade war as an unavoidable trial by fire, from which the country will emerge stronger.”

It would be suicidal for American companies – especially for its auto companies, if they were forced to leave the Chinese market, said an editorial in The Global Times which is a tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily.

“U.S. companies are welcome to invest and operate in the Chinese market, but if some U.S. companies want to obey Trump’s order and join Washington’s trade war, the result is bleak. A decision to give up the Chinese market is just suicide,” the paper said in its editorial.

(Adapted from MoneyControl.com)

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