Beijing: Beijing has accused Washington of breaching a key trade agreement in Geneva, escalating tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
China’s Ministry of Commerce said the United States has ‘severely violated’ the terms of the May trade truce and pledged to take ‘strong measures’ to safeguard its national interests.
The ministry claimed that recent U.S. actions have seriously undermined commitments made during the Geneva talks, where both countries agreed to significantly lower tariffs. As part of that deal, the U.S. reduced tariffs on Chinese goods from 145 percent to 30 percent, while China cut its retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports from 125 percent to 10 percent.
Beijing also accused Washington of breaching the consensus reached during a phone call in January between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump.
The criticism comes after President Trump stated that, “China had violated its agreement with us,” though he did not elaborate. Later, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said China had failed to remove non-tariff barriers as defined in the agreement.
Among the alleged violations cited by Beijing are a halt in U.S. sales of chip design software to Chinese firms, advisories against using semiconductors from Chinese tech giant Huawei, and the cancellation of visas for Chinese students studying in the United States.
The Geneva accord had surprised many analysts, who believed the two sides remained deeply divided on core trade issues. It briefly signalled that face-to-face diplomacy could still yield progress between Washington and Beijing.
However, the latest exchange of accusations highlights the fragility of that deal and casts doubt on the possibility of achieving a more durable trade truce shortly.
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