BEIJING (AP) – China’s No. 2 leader appealed Wednesday for support for free trade and promised to improve conditions for foreign companies following tit-for-tat U.S. and Chinese tariff hikes in a battle over Beijing’s technology policy.
Premier Li Keqiang’s comments add to Beijing’s effort to portray itself as a defender of global trade in the face of complaints by Washington and other trading partners that China violates its market-opening commitments.
Also Wednesday, a foreign ministry spokesman accused Washington of lacking sincerity after it proposed negotiations and then raised tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods. But he gave no indication whether Beijing would take part in talks.
FILE – In this July 13, 2017, file photo, a crane transporting vehicles operates on a container ship at the Port of Oakland, in Oakland, Calif. China on Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2018, announced a tariff hike on $60 billion of U.S. products in response to President Donald Trump’s latest duty increase in a dispute over Beijing’s technology policy. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File, File)China responded to President Donald Trump’s tariff hike by imposing its own penalties Tuesday on $60 billion of American imports.
The two countries previously raised import taxes on $50 billion worth of each other’s goods in the battle over U.S. complaints Beijing steals or pressures foreign companies to hand over technology.