China playing \'blame game\' in trade battle: US

China playing 'blame game' in trade battle: US

IANS  |  Washington 

The US has accused of playing a "blame game", misrepresenting trade talks between the two countries in response to Beijing's release of a white paper blaming for the setback in negotiations.

"Our negotiating positions have been consistent throughout these talks and backpedalled on important elements of what the parties had agreed to," said a statement from the (USTR).

It said the US was "disappointed" the Chinese had chosen in recent public statements "to pursue a blame game misrepresenting the nature and history of trade negotiations between the two countries".

The trade war between the world's two largest economies worsened after Trump in May accused of reneging on its promises and slapped additional tariffs on the Chinese goods worth $200 billion.

The President's sudden move while both sides were in talks to work out a deal caught China off-guard, prompting it to announce the retaliatory tariffs which took effect on June 1.

released a white paper titled, "China's Position on the China-US Economic and Trade Consultations", the next day, which set out China's position in trade talks including some of its prerequisites for a deal.

It said that it won't give in to the US pressure and was ready to fight till the end in the raging trade war that has the world concerned.

China accused of being "solely" responsible for the scuttling of talks and "groundlessly" and "recklessly" blaming of backtracking on its promises.

Sticking points throughout US-China trade talks included whether and how fast to roll back tariffs, as well as how to enforce any trade deal.

The US wanted to keep tariffs in place as part of the enforcement mechanism and to be the sole of whether China had broken the terms of the deal, analysts say.

"Our insistence on detailed and enforceable commitments from the Chinese in no way constitutes a threat to Chinese sovereignty," the USTR said.

No official trade talks have been scheduled since the last round ended in May.

Chinese and Trump are expected to meet at the meeting of leaders in later this month.

--IANS

soni/ksk

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Tue, June 04 2019. 13:00 IST