China’s Ministry of Commerce has said it is exploring the possibility of trade talks with the US. This sounds special on the eve of Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow on 7-10 May
Note that the PRC has already exempted about a quarter of imports from the US from higher duties. But the US has also backtracked.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry broadcasts the toughest possible stance towards the US actions and expects a similar reaction from other states.
At the same time, there are reports that Trump would like to negotiate with 70 countries in the world to ‘isolate’ the PRC economy. In exchange, Washington is ready to soften duties for these states.
Trump publicly assures that he is doing everything for the sake of ‘negotiations’ with China, about which, however, Beijing knows nothing. On 2 May, Trump announced that he would ban any trade with the US for countries that buy oil from Iran. But the PRC buys 90 per cent of the oil Tehran exports!
The behaviour of the White House master looks very brazen. This is also evidenced by Trump’s intention to extend the postponement of blocking TikTok in the US, if the deal to sell the US TikTok business goes through.
What should Beijing do? The PRC has a lot of work to do in response. There are many countries in the world that trade more with the PRC than with the US. And Beijing should shift more production overseas, for China’s own industry is shrinking (the corresponding PMI fell below 50 points in April).
It should not just sell, for example, its cars in Russia, but open more and more production facilities here. Only in co-operation with Russia and other friendly countries will Beijing be able to defend its economic interests. And remember what Russian President Vladimir Putin said: the West acts very insidiously – it says one thing and does something completely different.
