Lutnick Says US Punishing China for Slow-Rolling Agreement
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, on Fox Business News on June 1, described China as "slow rolling" its de-escalation agreement with the U.S., rather than being in violation of the deal, but said that "we are taking certain actions to show them what it feels like on the other side of the equation."
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The U.S. has recently tightened export controls -- including cutting off the export of commercial airport engines -- and has said it intends to aggressively revoke Chinese student visas, and give future applicants more scrutiny, starting with those heading to Harvard University.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said on June 2 that the U.S. is shifting blame, and that its accusation that China is "violating the consensus of the trade talks in Geneva ... gravely deviates from the facts."
The Chinese government said it has strictly implemented the agreement.
"In contrast, the U.S. has seriously undermined the consensus by successively introducing multiple discriminatory restrictive measures against China," the ministry wrote. "If the US insists on its own way and continues to harm China's interests, China will continue to take resolute and strong measures to safeguard our legitimate rights and interests."
The day before, Lutnick downplayed the possibility of another trade war escalation. President Donald Trump "is going to go work it out," the commerce secretary said.
He also predicted that there would be "really first-class deals for the American worker" in the next few weeks, with countries agreeing to open their markets to U.S. exports, though he also said those deals would include U.S. tariffs "to be sure we are treated fairly around the world."
"I think we're going to get a lot, a lot of deals done" before the early July deadline, he said. "We could sign a lot of deals now, but I think we could make them better and better."
If deals are not reached by July 9, Lutnick said, Trump will set the tariff rates rather than extending the time for negotiations.