China warned the US against launching a trade war, saying that both countries would suffer if US President Donald Trump follows through on his threats. The billionaire politician has repeatedly accused China of using unfair trade policies to steal jobs from the US, threatening to retaliate with massive tariffs unless Beijing changes tack. “A trade war is not in the interest of the two countries and the two peoples,” China’s Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan told reporters on the sidelines of the country’s annual political gathering in Beijing. The warning was the second time this week that China has railed against a possible trade war, amid growing indications that the Trump administration is serious about pursuing a protectionist agenda. The assertion provoked a warning from China’s commerce ministry that attempts to ignore the organisation’s rules could lead to “a repetition of the trade war of the 1930s.”

Source: Dhaka Tribune March 12, 2017 16:57 UTC