China’s President Rejects US ‘Selfish, Short-Sighted’ Trade Policies

The Chinese President, whose country is locked in a high-stakes trade dispute with the US, said that China rejects “selfish, shortsighted” trade policies and called for the building of an open global economy.

In what was a clear rebuke of US President Donald Trump’s protectionist policies, president Xi Jinping said: “We should reject selfish, short-sighted, narrow, and closed-off policies. We must maintain the rules of the World Trade Organization, support the multilateral trade system, and build an open global economy”

Press TV reports: He was speaking at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the northern Chinese port city of Qingdao.

“We should reject the Cold War mentality and confrontation between blocs,” Xi said, adding that countries had to “oppose the practices of seeking absolute security of oneself at the expense of the security of other countries.”
President Xi’s remarks were an unmistakable reference to the Trump administration’s inward-looking trade policies, including the imposition of hefty tariffs on imports from countries such as China.

The US has initiated a trade war with China by levying heavy tariffs on aluminum and steel imports from the Asian country. Beijing has introduced retaliatory measures.

America is also at odds with its natural allies in the Group of Seven (G-7) industrialized countries, which have also been irritated by the imposition of US tariffs on their goods.

The Chinese leader also announced that his country would offer 4.7 billion dollars in loans under a framework formed by SCO countries, highlighting the bloc’s rising economic importance.

The SCO is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to strengthen mutual trust and good-neighborliness between its member states, facilitate their effective cooperation in various fields, promote peace, security, and stability in the region, and establish a new, democratic, just and rational political and economic international order.