China 'evaluating' US offer to talk tariffs; warns against 'extortion'

BEIJING: Beijing is "evaluating" an offer from Washington to hold talks over US President Donald Trump's 145% tariffs, China's Commerce Ministry said on Friday, although it warned the United States not to engage in "extortion and coercion".

Washington and Beijing have been locked in a cat-and-mouse game over tariffs, with both sides unwilling to be seen to back down in a trade war that has roiled global markets and upended supply chains.

The Commerce Ministry said the United States has approached China to seek talks over Trump's tariffs and Beijing's door was open for discussions, signalling a potential de-escalation in the trade war.

The statement comes a day after a social media account linked to Chinese state media said Washington had been seeking to start talks, and a week after Trump claimed discussions were already underway, which Beijing denied.

"The US has recently taken the initiative on many occasions to convey information to China through relevant parties, saying it hopes to talk with China," the statement said, adding that Beijing was "evaluating this".

"Attempting to use talks as a pretext to engage in coercion and extortion would not work," it said.

The US should be prepared to take action in "correcting erroneous practices" and cancel unilateral tariffs, the Commerce Ministry said, adding that Washington needed to show "sincerity" in negotiations.

The punishing US tariffs on many Chinese products saw Beijing respond in April with levies on imports of US goods of 125%, as Beijing labelled Trump's tariff strategy "a joke".

The tit-for-tat increases stand to make goods trade between the world's two largest economies impossible, analysts say, with import duties beyond about 35% potentially wiping out Chinese exporters' profit margins and making American products in China similarly exorbitant.

Political posturing

China has repeatedly denied it is seeking to negotiate a way out of the tariffs with the United States, appearing instead to be betting that Washington makes the first move.

Trump's decision to single out Beijing for hefty import duties comes at a particularly difficult time for China, which is struggling with deflation due to sluggish economic growth and a prolonged property crisis.

Beijing has expressed its anger at the tariffs, which it says are tantamount to bullying and cannot stop the rise of the world's second-largest economy.

Alongside leveraging its propaganda machine to hit back at the duties, China has quietly created a list of US-made products it will exempt from its retaliatory 125% tariffs — including select pharmaceuticals, microchips and jet engines — Reuters has reported.

As tensions between both sides fester, the Trump administration on Friday ended US duty-free access for low-value shipments from China and Hong Kong, known as "de minimis" exemptions.

On the US side, officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett, have expressed hope for progress in easing trade tensions.

"I am confident that the Chinese will want to reach a deal. And as I said, this is going to be a multi-step process. First, we need to de-escalate, and then ... we will start focusing on a larger trade deal," Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business Network this week.

Trump said on Wednesday he believed there was a "very good chance" his administration could do a deal with China, hours after Chinese President Xi Jinping called on officials to take action to adjust to changes in the international environment, without explicitly mentioning the US.