China warns Trump's latest tariff moves could damage trade ties
[March 17, 2026] By
KEN MORITSUGU and JOHN LEICESTER
PARIS (AP) — China warned Monday that U.S. 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 trade investigations
into manufacturing in foreign countries that the Trump administration
launched after the U.S. 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-U.S. economic and
trade relations,” Li told journalists. He said they discussed the
possible extension of tariffs and non-tariff measures on both sides, and
that China expressed concern over likely uncertainty as the U.S adjusts
its measures. He said both sides agreed to make efforts to keep the
tariffs stable.
The meeting was meant to prepare for Trump's planned trip to China in
about two weeks, though the president has warned that it could be
delayed. Li did not address that, and did not take questions.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who led the U.S. delegation in Paris,
said the talks “were constructive and they show the stability in the
relationship," and noted: “The purpose of these meetings is to prevent
any retaliation.”
Trump’s visit to China would be the first for a U.S. 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.
The Iran war has emerged as a potential stumbling block as the U.S. 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.
Trump has suggested he may delay the much-anticipated China visit as he
seeks Beijing's help to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and calm oil prices
that have soared during the Iran war.
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Chinese lead trade negotiator Li Chenggang gives a press conference
at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
headquarters, Monday, March 16, 2026, in Paris, France. (AP
Photo/Oleg Cetinic)
 But Bessent said any postponement
wouldn't be to pressure China on that issue.
“If the president’s visit is postponed, it would have nothing to do
with the Chinese making a commitment to the Straits of Hormuz," he
told journalists.
“It would obviously be in their interest to do so, but a
postponement would not be as a result of any asks from the president
not being met,” Bessent added. "The postponement, if it happens,
would be because the commander in chief of the United States
military believes that he should stay in the United States while
this war is being prosecuted.”
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, accompanying Bessent, said
the talks sketched out “the general terms of a work plan” for a
Trump-Xi meeting so that it could produce “potential deliverables.”
He said they also covered the trade investigations that concern
China.
“We started these talks, really, by giving them a preview of what
we’re doing on U.S. trade policy as we adjust to the Supreme Court,”
Greer said. “Remember: The president’s trade policy hasn’t changed.
Our tools may change, and we’re conducting these investigations. We
don’t want to prejudge them, and we had a good conversation with our
counterparts about that process.”
___
Moritsugu reported from Beijing. Associated Press journalists Didi
Tang in Washington and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed.
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