China says US swinging ‘big stick’ of unfair trade tactics

BEIJING (AP) — China has accused the United States of using pressure tactics and blackmail in threatening to impose tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese imports.

Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said Thursday the U.S. was damaging the global trading order and its methods would harm its own business interests as well as those of trading partners.

Trump has ordered tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods in response to Beijing’s forced transfer of U.S. technology and alleged intellectual property theft and threatened to impose duties on up to $400 billion more in Chinese goods.

China matched the initial tariffs but hasn’t yet imposed more on U.S. exports.

Gao told reporters that China opposes the U.S. “act of extreme pressure and blackmail by swinging the big stick of trade protectionism.”