China said on Friday that it needed to ascertain the direction of the investigation before it could make a judgement on the probe launched by President Donald Trump over steel imports to the US.
President Trump on Thursday signed a presidential memorandum on whether steel imports “threaten to impair the national security.” Media reports have suggested China is a target of the investigation, raising the possibility of new tariffs. The news caused shares of US steelmakers to rise sharply.
US President Donald Trump at a press conference in the East Room at the White House in Washington, DC on April 20, 2017. /AFP Photo
When reporters asked Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang about the investigation on Friday, he said “we can't comment in detail before we have new and further information.”
“But I can repeat we've always upheld that the economic and trade relationship between China and the US is mutually beneficial," he added.
“The past 40 years of history has proved that China-US trade cooperation has brought substantial benefits to the peoples from the two countries, and has brought huge impetus to the development of industrial and business enterprises from the two countries,” Lu said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang at press conference on April 21, 2017. /Foreign Ministry Photo
He added that there have been divergences and frictions in economic and trade relations between China and the US, but both sides have solved many problems via dialogues and consultations, based on mutual respect and mutual benefits.
“I believe that if China and the US face divergences in the future in economic and trade relations, they could be solved based on the same spirit,” he said.
The US government has previously attempted to raise the issue via the World Trade Organization (WTO), but the Trump administration says this has had little impact.
Steelmakers in China's Dalian city, Liaoning Province on March 27, 2017. /CFP Photo
The US Commerce Department said in February it would impose punitive tariffs ranging from 63.86 percent to 190.71 percent on China’s stainless steel products. China later responded that it was disappointed by its “unfair investigation methods.”
Wang Hejun, head of the trade remedy and investigation bureau of China’s Ministry of Commerce, responded in February that the United States has violated WTO rules by neglecting abundant proof offered by Chinese companies and treating them unfairly simply because of their state-owned-enterprise status.
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