2 weeks Ago
A TOP CHINESE economic official has said that US tariffs are putting “pressure” on the country’s economy and trade, even as Beijing unveiled forecast-beating first quarter growth. “At the moment, the imposition of high tariffs by the US will put certain pressures on our country’s foreign trade and economy,” Sheng Laiyun, deputy commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics, told a press conference. China today said its economy grew a forecast-beating 5.
4% in the first quarter as exporters rushed to get goods out of factory gates ahead of swingeing new US tariffs. Beijing and Washington are locked in a fast-moving, high-stakes game of brinkmanship since US President Donald Trump launched a global tariff assault that has particularly targeted Chinese imports. Tit-for-tat exchanges have seen US levies imposed on China rise to 145%, and Beijing setting a retaliatory 125% toll on US imports.
Official data offered a first glimpse into how those trade war fears are affecting the Asian giant’s fragile recovery, which was already feeling the pressure of persistently low consumption and a property market debt crisis. China appointed a new trade envoy, Li Chenggang, who previously served as Beijing’s ambassador to the World Trade Organisation and deputy permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland..
