China warns Trump’s latest tariff moves could damage trade ties

The Iran war has emerged as a potential stumbling block just as the US and China were patching up relations following a tariff war in which import taxes soared to triple digits. Picture: AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein.

China has warned that US president Donald Trump’s latest tariff moves could harm the countries’ trade relationship, at the end of high-level talks in Paris.

Li Chenggang, China’s international trade representative, said the Chinese side had expressed serious concern about the trade investigations into manufacturing in foreign countries that the Trump administration launched after the US Supreme Court struck down its earlier tariffs.

“We are concerned that the possible results of such investigations may interfere with or damage the hard-won and stable China-US economic and trade relations,” Mr Li told journalists.

The meeting was meant to prepare for Mr Trump’s planned trip to China in about two weeks, though the president has warned that it could be delayed.

Mr Li did not address that, and did not take questions.

The Iran war has emerged as a potential stumbling block just as the US and China were patching up relations following a tariff war in which import taxes soared to triple digits.

The two sides later agreed to a one-year truce.

Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who led the delegation in Paris, said a delay to Mr Trump’s visit would not be because of disagreements over the Iran war or efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which is crucial for global shipping.

Mr Trump’s visit to China would be the first for a US president since he went in his first term in 2017.

It would come five months after he met President Xi Jinping in the South Korean city of Busan.