
China warns countries not to sign US trade deals at its expense
China has again warned that its interests must not be used as a bargaining chip as countries scramble to
make deals with the US to avoid the reinstatement of tariffs after a 90-day reprieve ends on July 9.
A statement from the Ministry of Commerce on Saturday evening said Beijing firmly opposed any party reaching tariff relief deals with the United States at the expense of China's interests.
'Should such a situation arise, China will never accept it and will take firm, resolute countermeasures to defend its legitimate rights and interests,' it said.
The ministry also had a word for countries scrambling to reach a deal with Washington to avoid the reimposition of punitive duties, warning that only by 'resolutely defending principled stances' could they effectively safeguard their rights and interests.
'China welcomes all parties to resolve trade disputes with the US through equal consultations. We call on them to be on the side of fairness and justice and vigorously uphold multilateral international trade rules,' it said.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


South China Morning Post
44 minutes ago
- South China Morning Post
Nvidia taps 2 young Chinese AI experts to strengthen research
US chip giant Nvidia has hired two prominent artificial intelligence (AI) experts who hail from China, underscoring the rising global recognition of talent from the mainland and their key contributions to the field's advancement. Zhu Banghua and Jiao Jiantao, both alumni of China's Tsinghua University, said on their respective social media accounts that they joined Nvidia, sharing photos of themselves with Jensen Huang, the founder and CEO of the company. Zhu, who received his bachelor's degree in electrical and electronics engineering from Tsinghua in 2018 and a PhD in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2024, joined Nvidia's Nemotron team as a principal research scientist, according to Zhu's post on X from over the weekend. Zhu's LinkedIn profile showed that he has also been an assistant professor at the University of Washington since September 2024. 'We'll be joining forces on efforts in [AI] model post-training, evaluation, agents, and building better AI infrastructure – with a strong emphasis on collaboration with developers and academia,' Zhu said, adding that the team was committed to open-sourcing its work and sharing it with the world. Nemotron is a group at Nvidia dedicated to building enterprise-level AI agents, according to the team's official website. The team's Nemotron multimodal models power AI agents for sophisticated text and visual reasoning, coding and tool-use capabilities. Jiao, who received a PhD in electrical, electronics and communications in engineering from Stanford University in 2018 after graduating from Tsinghua with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, said on LinkedIn over the weekend that he joined Nvidia to 'help push the frontier of artificial general intelligence (AGI) and artificial super intelligence (ASI).'


South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- South China Morning Post
Could Cambodia hit the Thai capital with its made-in-China weapons?
Cambodia could use Chinese-made weapons to strike Thailand but they would not put the Thai capital within reach, and Beijing is unlikely to stand by if border tensions erupt into military conflict, according to a Chinese analyst. 'China's weapon exports are defensive in nature, and after purchase, ownership and usage rights belong entirely to the recipient country,' former People's Liberation Army instructor Song Zhongping said. 'China would not wish to see two of its traditional friends at war, even over territorial disputes,' he said, adding that Beijing would seek to facilitate negotiations and a ceasefire. 'Thailand is both a traditional friend of China and a traditional ally of the United States, while Cambodia has close ties with China.' 03:41 Thai government hangs by thread as leaked phone call shreds PM Paetongtarn's credibility Thai government hangs by thread as leaked phone call shreds PM Paetongtarn's credibility The assessment follows a report in the Bangkok-based news site The Nation on Friday quoting Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen as saying that his country had weapons 'that can reach Bangkok'.


South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- South China Morning Post
South Korea's Lee nominates finance minister to tackle growth, Trump
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung nominated Koo Yun-cheol as the next finance minister, turning to a veteran bureaucrat to guide the economy at a time of sluggish growth and mounting trade pressures from the Trump administration. 'The president nominated Koo Yun-cheol, a widely recognised policy expert, as finance minister as he is a figure who has long contemplated Korea's innovation and is well-suited to chart a path for national growth,' Kang Hoon-sik, Lee's chief of staff, said in a televised press conference on Sunday. Koo, a former second vice finance minister and head of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, would return to the top economic post as Lee forms a team to counter rising headwinds following months of political turmoil. While serving under then-finance minister Hong Nam-ki during the Moon Jae-in administration, Koo helped guide Korea's economy through the Covid-19 pandemic and the inflation shocks of the early 2020s. The 60-year-old holds a doctorate in business administration from Chung-Ang University and a degree in economics from Seoul National University. Koo would take the reins from Kim Beom-seok, who has filled the role on an acting basis since Choi Sang-mok resigned. The nomination comes just weeks after Lee's victory over conservative rival Kim Moon-su in a closely watched presidential election. The snap vote was triggered by President Yoon Suk-yeol's impeachment in April following his botched declaration of martial law late last year.