MNI EXCLUSIVE: China Must React On Trump Tariffs: Advisors

     BEIJING (MNI) - China should immediately take counteractions against any

punitive tariffs expected to be announced by the Donald Trump administration

later Friday, advisors within China's trade and planning ministries told MNI.

     "We should immediately return with equal measures," Mei Xinyu, a senior

researcher of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), said in an interview with MNI

today. China must soon decide on its list of items to apply retaliatory tariffs

and withdraw its pledge of boosting imports from the U.S., Mei said.

     Mei spoke after some media said Trump approved tariffs on Chinese exports

to the U.S. worth $50 billion and the decision would be unveiled Friday in

Washington on Friday, though the implementation timeframe is unknown.

     The U.S. has acted unilaterally, as no negotiations between the two sides

are currently proceeding, said Mei, whose articles are sometimes published by

state media suggesting the official view. 

     As China stated in April, the primary targets of U.S. exports to be hit

will be agricultural goods, such as soybeans and pork, along with automobiles,

according to another MOFCOM source who spoke to MNI.

     --INCONSISTENT AND UNTRUSTWORTHY

     China has come to view the Trump administration as inconsistent and its

promises untrustworthy, even if there is an agreement between the two sides, Mei

said. 

     "Endlessly badgering and debating with the Trump administration are

meaningless; it won't feel the real pain until China too takes the action," Mei

said. 

     The U.S. administration will make the tariffs official this time, in

contrast to previous on-and-off threats that left some optimistic that relations

may improve after the shuttle trade talks, including a visit to Beijing by

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross earlier this month, said Mei.

     China has proposed to boost imports from the U.S. by $70 billion, U.S.

government sources told the press. Trump seems unsatisfied and wants to extract

more out of China to address what he believes to be unfair trade surplus, said

one trade specialist within the government who spoke to MNI.

     --COURTING SUPPORT

     "Trump may be thinking that the more he seeks the better," said another

trade advisor within a Chinese ministry, who declined to be identified. Trump

may be courting political support ahead of the U.S. mid-term elections in

November, the source said.

     "China will immediately fire back, and trade relations will quickly

deteriorate," the source said. "Trump needs to deliberate carefully that the $70

billion deal would be off the table in that case," he said.

     China stressed all agreements would be invalid if the U.S. slapped tariffs

on Chinese exports, according to a statement during Ross's visit to Beijing. 

     The U.S. was emboldened by its moves against Chinese telecommunications

company ZTE Corp., which it saw a success, Wang Haifeng, director of the

international trade and investment research office at the Academy of

Macroeconomic Research, a top think tank owned by the National Development and

Reform Commission, told MNI. 

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: iris.ouyang@marketnews.com

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 10 8532 5998; email: william.bi@mni-news.com

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: MAQDS$,M$A$$$,M$Q$$$,MC$$$$,MI$$$$,MT$$$$,MX$$$$,MBQ$$$,MGQ$$$]