China warns Trump on trade
Chinese state media cautions big sticks await if the US's new president tries to ignite a trade war
Beijing/Washington — Chinese state media warned US president-elect Donald Trump that he would be met with "big sticks" if he tried to ignite a trade war or further strain ties. "There are flowers around the gate of China’s ministry of commerce, but there are also big sticks hidden inside the door — they both await Americans," the Communist Party’s Global Times newspaper wrote in an editorial on Thursday. The article was published in response to Trump picking Robert Lighthizer, a former trade official in the Ronald Reagan administration who has criticised Beijing’s trade practices, as US trade representative. The latest salvo from state-run outlets followed others aimed at Peter Navarro, a University of California at Irvine economics professor and critic of China’s trade practices whom Trump named to head a newly formed White House National Trade Council. Those choices plus billionaire Wilbur Ross, the nominee for commerce secretary, will form an "iron curtain" of protectionism in Tr...
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