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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
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