China state media warn Trump against renouncing free trade deals
>> Reuters
Published: 19 Nov 2016 04:55 PM BdST Updated: 19 Nov 2016 04:55 PM BdST
-
Republican US president-elect Donald Trump speaks at his election night rally in Manhattan, New York, US, Nov 9, 2016. Reuters
Chinese state media warned US President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday against flip-flopping on trade deals in Asia, as Asia-Pacific leaders gathered for a summit amid fears that growing protectionism will stunt global economic growth.
During the raucous election campaign, Trump fuelled concerns among many of the United States' trading partners by pledging to renegotiate trade accords such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and impose tariffs on imports from countries such as China.
"Turning his trade-bashing campaign talks into actual policies could bash any hope that the Asia-Pacific will finally have its much-wanted free trade deal," said a commentary in the official Xinhua news agency on Saturday.
"Worse, it could drag his country and the wider world into deeper economic distress," added the agency, which is a barometer of government thinking.
Xinhua also said that the exclusion of China from the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement was not about boosting trade and instead was US President Barack Obama's strategy to make sure Washington "rules supreme in the region."
Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Pacific Rim leaders are meeting at the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Peru this weekend.
Though Obama championed the TPP as a way to counter China's rise, his administration has now stopped trying to win congressional approval for the deal that was signed by 12 economies in the Americas and Asia-Pacific, but excluded China. Without US approval the agreement as currently negotiated cannot come to fruition.
China's Xi is selling an alternate vision for regional trade by promoting the Beijing-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which as it stands excludes the Americas.
Chinese state media has warned Trump against isolationism and interventionism, calling instead for the United States to actively work with China to maintain the international status quo.
"The billionaire-turned-politician needs to prove that derailing the global economy has not been one of the reasons why he ran for US president," Xinhua said.
-
Trump to shake up Washington with deal-makers
-
DOJ examining FBI actions in Clinton probe
-
'Lack of evidence' in CIA assessment
-
Not bound by 'one China' policy: Trump
-
China warns Trump on Taiwan
-
Exxon CEO favoured for secy of state
-
'CIA says Russia helped Trump win'
-
Obama orders review of election cyber attacks
Most Read
- Young model Naaz found dead at home in Dhaka after suspected suicide
- Bangladesh ODI team to wear special jersey marking 50 years of independence
- Drizzles likely as Bangladesh braces for colder days of winter
- Bangladesh plans to vaccinate 200,000 people a day
- Biden names Bangladeshi-American Zayn Siddique senior aide to White House deputy chief of staff
- Four terminals will be built outside Dhaka for inter-district buses: Taposh
- BTRC testing quality of mobile networks for six months
- Bangladesh ‘cautiously optimistic’ after China-brokered Myanmar meet
- Bangladesh to receive 2m ‘gift’ vaccine doses from India Wednesday: official
- Biden plans 8-year pathway to citizenship for immigrants without legal status