China: This is not a trade war
China takes US to World Trade Organisation over new tyre import tariffs
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By Will Haine. |  |
Tuesday, 15, Sep 2009 03:00
By inthenews.co.uk staff.
China has made clear it does not want a trade war with the US, despite lodging a complaint with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over new US tariffs on tyre imports.
China's commerce ministry called the tariffs "protectionist", saying the world economic crisis was triggered in the US and it should therefore take responsibility for trade relations.
Under the WTO rules, the dispute aims to be solved over the next two months. President Barack Obama imposed the duties on Friday, which come under 'safe-guard' rules to prevent the flooding into the US of Chinese goods. The move was made after reports tyre imports from China were costing the US thousands of jobs.
On Sunday, China's state-run media said 100,000 Chinese jobs could be lost as a result of the US tariffs.
"We know the economic crisis originally began in the US so it should take the corresponding responsibility and be careful about using trade protectionist measures," the commerce ministry said.
"The US judgment about the disturbance is groundless.
"During the Chinese-US negotiations, the US side never gave feedback on whether Chinese tyre products disturbed local markets," it added.
However, officials did add that they did not believe the tariffs would lead to hurt ties between the two countries, and did "not want to see anything bad happen to bilateral relations".