White House advisor: May raise tariffs if deal with China doesn't work

The world's two largest economies have been locked in a bruising trade war since Trump imposed tariff hikes of up to 25 per cent on $250 billion of Chinese goods in March last year

China's Vice Finance Minister Liao Min (left) leaves after deputy-level US-China trade talks in Washington, DC, on September 19. Pic/AFP

Beijing: The US is likely to ramp up pressure on China by raising existing tariffs if a trade deal is not reached soon between the two countries, a key White House adviser has said. The world's two largest economies have been locked in a bruising trade war since Trump in March last year imposed tariff hikes of up to 25 per cent on $250 billion of Chinese goods.

In response, China imposed tit-for-tat tariffs on $110 billion of American goods. Michael Pillsbury, adviser to the White House on China policy, said that Trump would likely escalate the trade war by raising existing tariffs, if no deal is reached. In an interview in Hong Kong on Thursday, Pillsbury said Trump had been "remarkably restrained in the pressure he has brought to bear on China in the trade field".

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Both sides so far have held 12 rounds of talks but failed to work out a deal as China continued to resist Trump's demand for intrusive verification mechanism to supervise Beijing's promise to protect intellectual property rights technology transfer and more access to American goods to Chinese markets.

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Wearing a burqa or watching "illegal" Islamic videos could land you in trouble in China's restive Xinjiang province where the government is running vocational training centres to re-educate Uygur Muslims, who Beijing thinks have radicalised. Mlherban Ximih, 28, a Uygur Muslim from Asku, has been lodged at the Wensu County's Vocational Training Centre since June 2018 for wearing burqa.

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