China: We Will Respond to Possible US Sanctions

As announced by the White House, the US President is likely to impose sanctions against China on Thursday regarding "intellectual property theft." Chinese officials have warned of retaliation against this potential action. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce stated in a statement released on Thursday, April 2, that Beijing will not allow its legal rights and interests to be harmed and will "certainly defend its legal rights and interests by taking all necessary measures." Donald Trump, the US President, accuses Beijing of pressuring American companies to transfer their intellectual property to China, making this a condition for their access to Chinese domestic markets. Intellectual property gives creators exclusive rights to benefit from their ideas, and although it is not a tangible object, it can be traded. The White House has announced that after months of investigations into the "theft" of American intellectual property by China, Trump is likely to announce sanctions against China on Thursday, April 2. According to American media, these sanctions could include tariffs amounting to $30 to $60 billion and will also restrict Chinese investments in the United States. This news has raised concerns that the two largest global economies may enter a period of trade war. Two weeks prior, Trump imposed new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, which Chinese trade officials described as an "unjustifiable attack" on the global multilateral trading system. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang warned on Tuesday that "there are no winners in a trade war" and that Beijing hopes Washington will show "reasonable behavior" in this regard. Meanwhile, Chinese state media on Thursday called on other countries to resist Washington's "protectionist" trade measures that harm global trade by unilaterally supporting American domestic products. The state media emphasized, "Since the United States apparently has no intention of changing its approach, other countries should not hope that these protectionist measures will not affect them. They must resolutely stand against these measures." The Chinese state newspaper also noted that while the new US tariffs initially improve the US GDP growth, they slow down China's economic growth, but this action will reduce global economic growth. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the World Trade Organization announced that the United States has not complied with its rules regarding tariffs on various Chinese products, including solar panels, wind turbines, steel, and aluminum. The WTO stated that the US, by violating its rules, has seriously undermined the fair and equitable nature of the international trading environment. Since the beginning of his presidency, Trump has declared his intention to revive American industries by further supporting domestic products and preventing other countries from "commercially abusing" the US. Xi Jinping, the President of China, recently explained his trade policies to 2,300 representatives of the Communist Party from across China, stating, "Opening up will bring us progress... China will not close its doors to the world, and these doors will only open wider and wider." The remarks of the leader of the People's Republic of China are seen as an alternative to the policies of the US President.