– U.S. President Donald Trump’s escalation of a trade war with China left plans in limbo on Monday for high-level negotiations later this week to end the dispute.
Stocks around the world tumbled and oil prices hit a one-month low after Trump tweeted on Sunday that he would raise tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25 percent from 10 percent by the end of the week, and would “soon” target the remaining Chinese imports with tariffs.
The announcement ended a four-month truce in a trade war that has cost the world’s two largest economies billions of dollars, slowed global growth and disrupted manufacturing and farming.
It was unclear on Monday whether Chinese Vice Premier Liu He would travel as planned to Washington for talks scheduled to start on Wednesday.
A Washington-based source familiar with the talks said the Chinese side was reconsidering whether Liu would attend after Trump’s tweet.
“The atmosphere of the negotiations has changed,” said a Chinese official with knowledge of the talks, and how they would proceed was being re-evaluated.
“All that depends on the attitude of the United States,” the official said.
A Chinese delegation was still preparing to go to the United States for trade talks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said earlier on Monday in Beijing, without saying whether Liu would be part of it.
A spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative’s office did not immediately respond to a query about the status of the talks in Washington and Liu’s attendance.
FILE PHOTO: An Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) container ship is seen at a port in Qingdao, Shandong province, China October 19, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer
BY REUTERS
WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters)
