Beijing (dpa) – The American Chamber of Commerce in China said Wednesday that Beijing will likely respond if US president-elect Donald Trump imposes restrictions on trade or investment between the two countries.
“China is not without an arsenal to respond to actions the US may or may not take,” said Lester Ross, a chamber board member, in Beijing.
China already has initiated some measures, such as imposing higher anti-dumping duties on American agricultural chemicals, Ross told reporters.
Authorities could also begin new anti-dumping investigations in the future, which would impact the amount of US imports into China too, he added.
Chinese president Xi Jinping, in a speech in the Swiss town of Davos on Tuesday, warned that a “trade war” would harm all countries involved.
“The message we want to bring forth to Washington is to be realistic,” Ross said.
“If you’re fighting against government policy in China saying they devalued Chinese currency to give Chinese exports an advantage, that actually hasn’t been the case in recent years,” he said.
US president elect Trump has in the past promised to raise import duties on Chinese-made goods and has also declared China a currency manipulator.