China on Monday accused the United States of violating their recent trade deal and vowed to take measures to defend its national interests.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce pushed back on President Trump’s recent claim that Beijing had violated the agreement reached last month in Geneva, saying it’s the U.S. that has taken “multiple discriminatory restrictive measures against China,” state-run media outlet Xinhua reported, citing a statement from the ministry’s spokesperson.
The spokesperson said the U.S. violations include recent guidance on AI chip export controls, the halting of sales of chip design software to China and the revocation of visas for Chinese students.
“These practices seriously violate the consensus reached by the two heads of state on January 17, seriously undermine the existing consensus of the Geneva economic and trade talks, and seriously damage China’s legitimate rights and interests,” the spokesperson said, according to Google’s translation of the statement on the ministry’s site.
Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a call before Trump was officially sworn into office that laid the groundwork for the deal reached during negotiations in Geneva last month.
“Instead of reflecting on its own actions, the United States has groundlessly accused China of violating the consensus, a claim that grossly distorts the facts. China firmly rejects these unjustified accusations,” the spokesperson, who is not named, said in the statement, according to Xinhua’s translation.
The spokesperson warned of repercussions if the U.S. doesn’t change course.
“If the U.S. insists on its own way and continues to damage China’s interests, China will continue to take resolute and forceful measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” the ministry spokesperson said.
The statement comes after Trump on Friday accused China of violating a trade agreement with the U.S. amid ongoing tensions between the countries.
“Two weeks ago, China was in grave economic danger! The very high Tariffs I set made it virtually impossible for China to TRADE into the United States marketplace which is, by far, number one in the World. We went, in effect, COLD TURKEY with China, and it was devastating for them. Many factories closed and there was, to put it mildly, ‘civil unrest.’ I saw what was happening and didn’t like it, for them, not for us. I made a FAST DEAL with China in order to save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation, and I didn’t want to see that happen,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday.
“Because of this deal, everything quickly stabilized and China got back to business as usual. Everybody was happy! That is the good news!!!” he added. “The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!”
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer elaborated in a subsequent interview on CNBC, saying China violated the agreement by slowing approval of exports of key rare-earth materials.
Under the agreement the Trump administration hashed out with China last month, the U.S. lowered its tariff rate on Chinese imports from 145 percent to 30 percent, and Beijing lowered its rate on U.S. goods from 125 percent to 10 percent.
