China highlighted U.S. farmers and tech companies as beneficiaries of economic ties in the ruling Communist Party’s official newspaper, in an apparent appeal to cool trade tensions on the eve of Donald Trump’s expected announcement of new global tariffs.
Agricultural imports from the U.S. have brought “tangible benefits” for both sides by meeting China’s demand and boosting American farmers’ income, according to an article published Wednesday by the People’s Daily. The piece was credited to Zhong Sheng, a Chinese homonym for “Voice of China” often used to set out Beijing’s foreign policy views.
The article is the second in a series of commentaries on China-U.S. ties seemingly timed with the U.S. president’s plan to impose reciprocal tariffs on April 2. A U.S. review of China’s compliance with a previous trade deal was due the day before, with the results likely to feed into future tariff and other policy decisions.
“This article appears to be Beijing’s last effort to avert Trump’s tariffs against China in the hope of changing his mind,” said John Gong, a former consultant to China’s Commerce Ministry who is now a professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. “But I think it is still going to be falling on deaf ears.”
The first piece on Monday named Tesla Inc. and Apple Inc. as examples of how China’s vast market and manufacturing capabilities have made it an indispensable partner of U.S. firms. The article struck a conciliatory tone, calling for greater China-U.S. cooperation despite their competition.
“China and the U.S. can absolutely achieve a mutually beneficiary win-win situation by making use of their respective advantages and strengthening investment cooperation,” the article read.
But by singling out areas where the US benefited from collaboration, China also showed what leverage it has to respond to any new US measures should relations worsen.
Beijing targeted U.S. agricultural and energy goods in its retaliation against the 20% blanket tariffs imposed on Chinese products by Trump this year. Chinese authorities also launched an antitrust investigation into Alphabet Inc.’s Google and put US gene-sequencing company Illumina Inc. on a so-called blacklist of entities.
Chinese officials have made it clear that they’re prepared to fight back should Trump turns up the heat.
China’s top diplomat on Tuesday denounced the broad tariffs the US imposed over Beijing’s alleged role in America’s fentanyl crisis, calling for Trump to remove the levies in an interview with Russian state-run news service RIA Novosti.
“If the U.S. side persists in exerting pressure and even continues to engage in blackmail, China will resolutely counteract it,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs on trading partners are set to take effect today, a day he has proclaimed as “Liberation Day” for American trade. CTV News has extensive coverage across all platforms:
- CTVNews.ca has in-depth coverage, real-time updates, and expert analysis on what the tariffs will mean for Canadians.
- CP24.com has developments out of Queen’s Park and what the tariffs mean for the people of the GTHA.
- BNNBloomberg.ca has what this means for the business community, investors, and the market.
--With assistance from Colum Murphy.
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