China, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asian officials talk US tariffs

ISTANBUL

Finance and central bank officials from China, Japan, South Korea, and other regional countries met this week and discussed the impact of US tariffs on the global and regional macroeconomic situation, according to a statement from China's central bank on Friday.

Xuan Changneng, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, attended the regular meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the finance and central bank deputy heads of China, Japan, and South Korea on April 8–9 in Malaysia, according to the statement.

"The meeting discussed the impact of U.S. tariffs on the global and regional economic outlook, as well as the enhancement of the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM) and the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), reaching broad consensus on deepening regional policy coordination and strengthening regional financial safety net," it said.

"On the sidelines, China, Japan, and Korea also held the Tripartite Finance and Central Bank Deputies’ Meeting to exchange views on the economic outlook and regional financial cooperation," it added.

The Chinese Central Bank will implement accommodative monetary policy and support stable financial market performance to sustain the momentum of economic recovery, according to the statement.

Last week US President Donald Trump announced higher new tariffs worldwide, causing uncertainty in global markets and trade.

Trump imposed higher tariffs on over 180 nations, ranging from 10% to 50%, but he later paused his "reciprocal tariffs" for 90 days for all countries except China. He said he was raising the tariff rate on China to 125%.

China said Thursday that the US is exerting “maximum pressure” and using tariffs as a "weapon,” vowing not to give into this.

A White House official later confirmed that US tariffs on Chinese imports now total 145% after Trump dramatically increased import duties this week.