‘Protectionism hurts all,’ China says on new Trump tariffs

ISTANBUL

China on Friday said that trade protectionism “hurts all,” hours after the US implemented unilateral tariffs on many nations.

“Tariff, trade wars have no winners and protectionism hurts all parties,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told reporters in Beijing.

Beijing’s comments came just after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that modifies tariff rates for dozens of countries ahead of his self-imposed Friday, Aug. 1 trade deal deadline.

The order changes "the reciprocal tariff rates for certain countries to further address our exploding, annual U.S. goods trade deficits," the White House said in a statement.

China itself secured another extension in a US tariff truce after the two sides held a two-day meeting in Sweden.

The new rates go into effect on Aug. 7, appearing to give negotiators a further buffer to hammer out deals.

Trump on April 2 announced sweeping tariffs for countries across the world and later established a 10% baseline rate that would be imposed on countries while individual negotiations played out. The president imposed an Aug. 1 deadline for nations to strike deals with his negotiating team or face heightened import duties.