Chinese state media slams Trump for 'extortion' in trade dispute

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese state media on Monday lashed out at U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policies in an unusually personal attack, even as they sought to reassure investors about the health of China’s economy as growth concerns roiled its financial markets.

FILE PHOTO: Chinese and U.S. flags are set up for a signing ceremony during a visit by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao at China's Ministry of Transport in Beijing, China April 27, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee/File Photo

China’s strictly controlled news outlets have frequently rebuked the United States and the Trump administration as the trade conflict has escalated, but they have largely refrained from specifically targeting Trump.

The latest criticism from the overseas edition of the ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper singled out Trump, saying he was starring in his own “street fighter-style deceitful drama of extortion and intimidation”.

Trump’s desire for others to play along with his drama is “wishful thinking”, a commentary on the paper’s front page said, arguing that the United States had escalated trade friction with China and turned international trade into a “zero-sum game”.

“Governing a country is not like doing business,” the paper said, adding that Trump’s actions imperiled the national credibility of the United States.

The United States and China implemented tariffs on $34 billion worth of each other’s goods in July. Washington is expected to soon implement tariffs on an additional $16 billion of Chinese goods, which China has already said it will match immediately.

On Friday, China’s finance ministry unveiled new sets of additional tariffs on 5,207 goods imported from the United States worth $60 billion.

That move was in response to the Trump administration’s proposal of a 25-percent tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports.

Reporting by Andrew Galbraith and Michael Martina; Editing by Michael Perry & Shri Navaratnam

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