To keep asking for a deal while exerting extreme pressure a wrong way to deal with China: FM

(ECNS) -- To keep asking for a deal while exerting extreme pressure is not the right way to deal with China and simply will not work, Chinese Foreign Ministry Guo Jiakun said at a regular press conference on Wednesday.

It was reported that U.S. President Donald Trump told the press the U.S. is "doing fine with China" and he would not "play hardball" with China in talks. He said the 145-percent tariff is very high and "it'll come down substantially. But it won't be zero."

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent characterized the current China-U.S. situation as essentially a trade embargo. He said it was not the U.S.'s goal to decouple from China, and a comprehensive deal could take two to three years, but negotiations with Beijing have not yet started.

In response, Guo said tariff and trade wars have no winners, protectionism leads nowhere, and to decouple is to self-alienate.

"This tariff war is launched by the U.S. We have made it very clear that China does not look for a war, but neither are we afraid of it. We will fight, if fight we must. Our doors are open, if the U.S. wants to talk. If a negotiated solution is truly what the U.S. wants, it should stop threatening and blackmailing China and seek dialogue based on equality, respect, and mutual benefit," he said.

(By Zhao Li)