President Donald Trump announced $ 50 billion of tariffs on China last week.
Ambassador Cui Tiankai said China will take “all measures necessary,” possibly including cutbacks on purchases of US Treasurys.
China only holds 5.50% of US treasurys and, in recent years, has already been slowing down its purchases.
“We are looking at all options.”
In an interview about the trade sanctions that President Trump is throwing at China and at Corporate America – whose supply chains go through China in search of cheap labor and other cost savings – Ambassador Cui Tiankai defended the perennial innocence of China, as is to be expected, and trotted out the standard Chinese fig leafs and state-scripted rhetoric that confirmed in essence that Trump’s decision is on the right track.
Speaking on Bloomberg TV, he also trotted out all kinds of more or less vague and veiled threats – such as, “We will take all measures necessary,” or “We’ll see what we’re doing next” – perhaps having forgotten that China and Hong Kong combined export three times as much to the US as the other way around, and the pain of a trade war would be magnified by three on the Chinese side.
When asked about the possibility of China’s cutting back on purchases of US Treasuries – the ultimate threat, it seems, these days as Congress is piling on record deficits leading to a ballooning mounting of debt that requires a constant flow of new buyers – Ambassador Cui Tiankai said:See the rest of the story at Business Insider
NOW WATCH: I quit cable for DirecTV Now and it’s saving me over $ 1,000 a year — here’s how I did it
See Also:
- Trump to hit China with tariffs over intellectual property theft — and it may start an all-out trade war
- The retail apocalypse is bearing down on these REITs
- Youtube’s co-founder bought a luxury San Francisco condo, didn’t live in it for 10 years, and sold it at a loss
SEE ALSO: China urges WTO members: put U.S. tariff ‘beast back in the cage’
