Ministry of Commerce says ‘door is open’ to talks, but it is willing to ‘fight to the end’ otherwise.
China has said it is considering proposals by the United States to begin negotiations on US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.
The US has “recently, through relevant channels, actively conveyed messages to China, expressing a desire to engage in talks”, China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on Friday.
“China is currently evaluating this.”
Beijing’s remarks come after Chinese state media reported earlier in the week that the Trump administration had “proactively reached out” through multiple channels.
Trump’s trade war with China has resulted in a de facto mutual trade embargo between the world’s two largest economies.
Businesses and investors have been anxiously waiting for signs that Washington and Beijing will ease their steep tariffs on each other’s goods amid fears that a protracted standoff will inflict serious damage on the global economy.
The International Monetary Fund last month lowered its global growth forecast for 2025 to 2.8 percent, down from 3.3 percent in January, while JPMorgan Chase has put the likelihood of a US recession this year at 60 percent.
Christopher Beddor, deputy China research director at Gavekal Dragonomics, a financial services company in Beijing, said that China appears to be sincere about being open to talks provided the US is serious.
“Again, they’ve got a lot of tools: The tariffs are already in place, but they also have export controls and can launch more probes into US companies,” Beddor told Al Jazeera.
“The list goes on. Most importantly, they’re ready to stimulate to blunt the damage to economic growth. But policymakers also clearly understand that it would be a lot better if they didn’t have to use those tools because there was a de-escalation.”
Trump, who has slapped a 145 percent tariff on Chinese exports, has repeatedly insisted that his administration is in negotiations with Beijing, a claim that Chinese officials have rejected as “groundless”.
On Wednesday, Trump said there was a “very good chance” he would reach a trade deal with China, so long as it was “fair”.
In its statement on Friday, China’s Commerce Ministry said that its stance on the trade dispute had been consistent.
“If there is a fight, we will fight to the end; if there are talks, the door is open,” the ministry said.
“The tariff war and trade war were unilaterally initiated by the US, and if the US wants to talk, it should demonstrate sincerity by preparing to correct its erroneous actions and rescind the unilateral imposition of additional tariffs,” it said, adding that “attempting to use talks as a pretext to engage in coercion and blackmail” would not work with China.
‘Wakeup call’
In an interview with Fox News that aired on Thursday night, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Trump’s tariffs were badly hurting the Chinese economy and Beijing was eager to talk.
“The Chinese are reaching out, they want to meet, they want to talk,” Rubio told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “We’ve got people involved in that.”
Rubio also said that the tensions were a “wake-up call” for the US, and the country should not be as dependent on China.
“Two more years in this direction, and we are going to be in a lot of trouble, really dependent on China,” he said. “So, I do think there is this broader question about how much we should buy from them at all.”
Steven Okun, the CEO of Singapore-based consultancy APAC Advisors, said it would not be a surprise to see meetings between Chinese and US officials “given the interdependence of their economies and the damage being done to both”, but characterising such contact as a “negotiation” would be premature.
