Trump trade war: China vows retaliation if tariff s bite

China has warned that it does not want a trade war with the US, but will not sit idly by if its
economy is hurt. Zhang Yesui, spokesperson for China’s National People’s Congress, made the
comments amid controversy over Donald Trump’s announcement of tariff s on steel and aluminium imports. Th e US president has also threatened to impose a tax on EU-made cars, and earlier said
“trade wars are good”. US trading partners, the IMF and the WTO have strongly criticised his moves. Mr Trump has decried the “$800 Billion Dollar Yearly Trade Defi cit because of our‘very stupid’ trade deals and policies”, and vowed to end it. On Th ursday, he said steel imports would
face a 25% tariff and aluminium 10%. Th en came Saturday’s threat on EU-made cars. In January, he had already announced tariff s on solar panels and washing machines. China’s Zhang Yesui said it was natural that “some friction will exist” between the US and China, given the volume of trade between
them surpassed $580bn (£420bn) last year. But he said China would take “necessary measures” if its interests were hurt. Canada said tariff s would cause disruption on both sides of the border. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was “confident we’re going to continue to be able to defend Canadian industry”. EU trade chiefs have reportedly been considering slapping 25% tariff s on around $3.5bn of imports from the US – targeting iconic US exports including Levi’s jeans, Harley-Davidson motorbikes and Bourbon whisky. Brazil, Mexico and Japan, that have said they will consider retaliatory steps if the
president presses ahead with his plan next week. A number of Republicans have questioned
the wisdom of the tariff proposal and have been urging the president to reconsider.
Senator Orrin Hatch said American citizens would be made to pay