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China said it would counter U.S. protectionism "to the end, and at any cost," as a war of words over President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on Chinese imports escalated.

The statement from Beijing came after Trump ordered his administration to consider tariffs on an additional $100 billion in Chinese goods on Thursday, sending U.S. stock futures tumbling. The U.S. president cited “China’s unfair retaliation” in response to his list of proposed tariffs earlier this week covering $50 billion in Chinese products.

"The Chinese side will follow suit to the end and at any cost, and will firmly attack, using new comprehensive countermeasures, to firmly defend the interest of the nation and its people,” the Commerce Ministry said in a statement on its website on Friday. The ministry said it would hold a press briefing at 8:00 p.m. in Beijing Friday.

China called on the European Union to aid the Asian nation in rejecting protectionism from the U.S. and upholding the international trade order.

China and the EU “need to stand up together with a clear-cut position against protectionism, and need to work with each other to uphold the rules-based multilateral trade order,” Zhang Ming, the head of the Chinese Mission to the EU, said in an email response to questions from Bloomberg. Recent U.S. actions go “completely against the fundamental principles and values of the World Trade Organization,” he said.

TRUMP REITERATES U.S. IS NOT AT TRADE WAR WITH CHINA

China's commerce ministry threatens immediate and very detailed retaliation to Trump's $100 billion tariff proposal and said that "under these conditions, the two sides cannot conduct any negotiations.

Exclusive: China seeks trade firewall with U.S. allies in rush of ambassador meetings - sources
Michael Martina, Robin Emmott

BEIJING/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - China’s international trade representative held a series of meetings with the ambassadors from major European nations last week to ask them to stand together with Beijing against U.S. protectionism, according to four sources familiar with the discussions.

Some of the western diplomats involved in the meetings with Fu Ziying, who is also a vice-commerce minister, have viewed the approaches as a sign of how anxious Beijing is getting about the expanding conflict with Washington, the sources said.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on $150 billion in Chinese imports to the U.S. to punish China for what U.S. government officials regard as its predatory industrial policies and abuse of U.S. intellectual property. Beijing has vowed to retaliate.

Amid the rapidly rising tensions between the two sides, China has sought to seize the moral high ground as a defender of the multilateral trade system, even as U.S. allies express shared concern with Washington over Beijing’s highly restricted market.

The rush of meetings last Thursday and Friday with ambassadors from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, and the European Union, may be a signal that China is trying to build a firewall against Trump’s aggressive trade measures, the severity of which some foreign diplomats said Beijing had miscalculated.

The individual meetings, which were called by Fu, were generally “non-confrontational” as China sought support in countering the United States, a European diplomat with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters. There were, though, some “subliminal threats” about consequences for foreign companies, this person said.

“The message was that we have to stand together against U.S. protectionism in favor of free trade,” the diplomat said.

“China is showing confidence, but internally they appear quite concerned. They have apparently underestimated Trump’s resolve on trade,” the diplomat said, adding that Beijing is nervous about China’s major trading partners siding with Washington.

Three other diplomatic sources, and three embassies, confirmed that the meetings occurred.
An Italian embassy spokeswoman said its ambassador met with Fu on April 12, and that while the U.S.-China trade dispute was discussed, the meeting was mostly about bilateral issues.

A British embassy spokeswoman also confirmed that its ambassador met with Fu last week as part of regular discussions with the ministry that touched on “bilateral and multilateral trade issues”.

An EU Delegation spokesman said its ambassador attended a meeting with Fu, but did not elaborate.
A German embassy spokesman declined to comment, and the other embassies did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

China’s Commerce Ministry also did not respond to a request for comment.

“SMACKS OF DESPERATION”

The Chinese government’s top diplomat Wang Yi, during a visit to Tokyo on Monday, urged Japan to work together with China to oppose protectionism, though foreign officials say that China is not naive enough to think that it could fully drive a wedge between Washington and its allies.

One senior EU diplomat in Brussels who confirmed the meetings said the EU was not in the business of taking sides, and that its goal was to get the multilateral process back on track, referring to efforts to resolve trade disputes through the WTO.

“I think it also smacks of desperation because China also knows that the European Union is not going to confront its biggest ally,” the EU diplomat said of the meetings.

“China has been very effective at making the most of the free-trading rule book. I don’t think anyone in the West is going to leave it to China to set new ones,” the Brussels-based diplomat said.

Trade policy for members of the EU is handled by the European Commission, not by individual member states.
Another western diplomat in Beijing, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said China’s outreach to European countries had begun even before Trump announced 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese industrial technology, transport and medical products in early April.

When Beijing responded within hours with its intention to levy similar duties on $50 billion worth of U.S. soybeans, planes, cars, beef and chemicals, Trump then escalated the dispute by instructing his administration to identify another $100 billion worth of Chinese goods to penalize. 

None of these threatened duties have yet gone into effect.

U.S. business groups argue that Trump should form a coalition with the EU, Japan and other western nations to push China to open its economy. They say that these countries share Washington’s consternation over Chinese market restrictions and its policies to produce national champion companies in key industries at the expense of foreign competitors.

However, instead of reaching out to its European allies, Washington has alienated them with its protectionist moves, including its targeting of European countries with tariffs on steel and aluminum exports to the U.S.
The EU has said the U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs are unjustified and is seeking compensation from the United States at the World Trade Organization.

U.S. ban on sales to ZTE triggers patriotic rhetoric in China

A U.S. ban on sales of American components to ZTE Corp (0763.HK) (000063.SZ) has unleashed a patriotic backlash in China’s cyberspace, highlighting the growing tension between the world’s two largest economies.
The United States this week imposed a ban on American companies selling parts and software to ZTE for seven years, saying it had broken a settlement agreement with repeated false statements - a move that threatens to cut off the Chinese firm’s supply chain.
Sympathy for ZTE has swept Chinese social media while most domestic newspapers have chosen to put the lion’s share of the blame for the telecom equipment maker’s troubles on China’s heavy reliance on foreign semiconductors.
The U.S. action comes at a time when the two countries have threatened each other with tens of billions of dollars in tariffs in recent weeks, fanning worries of a full blown trade war.
In one widely circulated photograph online, an unidentified restaurant erected a banner with patriotic slogans calling for solidarity and offering ZTE employees free meals.
“If it were not because of ZTE’s strength and ability to represent China, it would not have been punished like this,” the banner said.
A photograph purportedly showing ZTE’s 76-year-old founder Hou Weigui with senior executives at a mainland airport about to catch a flight to the United States also prompted a torrent of messages of support.
“Trying so hard, bearing so much, all to fight for China’s interest - how touching!” said one popular comment that played on a comparison with a late Qing dynasty official, Li Hongzhang, a chief negotiator in the first Sino-Japanese war.
The state-run Global Times said in an article this week that the move against ZTE was a strong push for China to strengthen its domestic chip industry. China’s semiconductor-related imports from the United States last year came to $11 billion.
Nineteen stocks related to semiconductors listed on the mainland rose by their daily limit on Wednesday.

Rusal Discusses Deals in China to Ease Sanctions Crunch

United Co. Rusal officials met Chinese companies and traders this week to discuss the possibility of buying alumina and selling aluminum in the Asian country as U.S. sanctions freeze out the Russian producer from markets around the world, according to people with knowledge of the talks.

Shares Surge

Rusal’s Hong-Kong traded shares, which have lost more than 60 percent since the sanctions were announced, rallied by more than 27 percent on Thursday to HK$1.81.

Zuper wrote:
Izgeda da je ovo odgovor Kine,

Rusal Discusses Deals in China to Ease Sanctions Crunch

United Co. Rusal officials met Chinese companies and traders this week to discuss the possibility of buying alumina and selling aluminum in the Asian country as U.S. sanctions freeze out the Russian producer from markets around the world, according to people with knowledge of the talks.

Shares Surge

Rusal’s Hong-Kong traded shares, which have lost more than 60 percent since the sanctions were announced, rallied by more than 27 percent on Thursday to HK$1.81.

The United States and China both have bases in Djibouti, an east African nation on the Gulf of Aden with fewer than a million people. Djibouti has become a hub of foreign military activity in recent years, hosting bases from an array of countries including France, Italy and Japan. Saudi Arabia is planning to build a base there as well.

US demands China cut trade deficit by $200bn
New target doubles amount Donald Trump previously asked of Beijing

• The U.S. also demanded that China immediately stop providing subsidies and other assistance for advanced technologies outlined in the government’s Made in China 2025 plan. The initiative aims for China to dominate future frontiers of manufacturing and industry, from robotics and aviation to new-energy vehicles.
  
• The U.S. also asked China to cut tariffs on “all products in non-critical sectors” to levels that are no higher than the levels that the U.S. applies to imports, according to the document.
  
• In addition, the U.S. also asked China to guarantee that it won’t hit back at the U.S. for any actions taken in the disputes over intellectual property.
  
• It also asked that China withdraw its challenges in this area at the World Trade Organization.
  
• China believes that the demands are “unfair”