China tells US of 'serious concern' over latest trade restrictions

BEIJING: China’s top trade official told his counterparts from the United States on Thursday Beijing had “serious concern” over Washington’s latest trade restrictions affecting it, according to state media.

China and the United States spent much of last year embroiled in an escalating trade war but reached a truce when US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met last October.

However, recent tensions have threatened to disrupt that impasse.

Beijing condemned fresh US tariffs imposed on China and 59 other countries last week over alleged forced labour concerns, and warned Washington against waging a trade war.

China accused the United States on Wednesday of seeking to “suppress” Chinese companies, after Washington banned imports of humanoid and quadruped robots manufactured abroad.

In the video call between Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent along with US trade representative Jamieson Greer on Thursday, “the Chinese side expressed serious concern over recent US economic and trade restrictions against China,” state news agency Xinhua reported.

The call was “candid, in-depth and constructive”, according to Xinhua, as negotiators discussed “maintaining stable economic and trade ties… and properly addressing mutual concerns in the next phase”.

During his trip to Beijing in May, Trump invited Xi to visit the United States in September, but that visit is yet to be confirmed.