China says it is ready to work with all countries, including Sri Lanka, to firmly oppose trade bullying, safeguard and promote the building of an open world economy and economic globalization, inject more certainty into an uncertain world, and build a community of shared future and common interests through win-win cooperation.
The Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Cheng Xueyuan said that for more than a year, the trade dispute between China and the United States has caused concern and even panic in both countries and the international market.
He said the US tariff increase on China has reduced the total trade volume between China and the US, but the bilateral trade deficit remains basically unchanged.
“It didn’t help, as the Trump administration promised, reduce the trade deficit, while it is more likely to severely dampen business and financial market sentiment, disrupt global supply chains and jeopardize the expected recovery in global growth in 2019,” the Ambassador said in a statement issued by the Chinese Embassy in Colombo.
He said that American and Chinese consumers are both victims of the trade war, but the average American consumers will suffer more.
“First, American importers bear almost all the costs of higher tariffs. Some of the cost of tariffs would be passed on to US consumers, while importers see lower margins. Further tariff increases may foreseeably be passed on to consumers. This phenomenon will inevitably lead to inflation in the long run, which will cause more serious damage to low-income families in the United States,” he added.
The Ambassador said that as for the China-US economic and trade frictions, China has always exercised great restraint and made careful preparations for negotiations with great sincerity.
He said that China’s sincerity in promoting the consultations is obvious to all but China is unlikely to trade principled issues for core interests, and will not make concessions on major issues of principle. (Colombo Gazette)