Pompeo on China trade war: 'We are going to win'

Published September 23, 2018
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivers remarks at the 2018 Values Voters Summit in Washington, DC on September 21, 2018. —AFP
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivers remarks at the 2018 Values Voters Summit in Washington, DC on September 21, 2018. —AFP

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed that the United States would emerge victorious in an intensifying trade war with China, a day before Washington imposes $200 billion worth of tariffs.

“We are going to win it,” Pompeo said in an interview on Fox News broadcast on Sunday.

“We're going to get an outcome which forces China to behave in a way that if you want to be a power — a global power — transparency, rule of law, you don't steal intellectual property,” he said.

Pompeo said that President Donald Trump “very much likes” his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping but said he would press policies that “the American workers deserve.”

Even before Trump's election, the United States has complained vigorously that China has been unfair to US businesses and has stolen technology by forcing firms to reveal secrets as a condition to operate in the fast-growing Asian economy.

But Trump has taken an increasingly hard line on trade around the world, with $200 billion in tariffs on Chinese exports set to take effect on Monday.

China has retaliated by hitting $60 billion in US products and the world's two largest economies have already imposed tariffs of $50 billion on each other.

In a first, the Trump administration has also punished a unit of China's defense ministry for buying fighter jets and missiles from Russia in defiance of sanctions on Moscow.

Follow Dawn Business on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook for insights on business, finance and tech from Pakistan and across the world.

Opinion

Editorial

IHK resolution
08 Nov, 2024

IHK resolution

IF the Indian state is serious about its democratic credentials, then it should listen to the voices emanating from...
Climate realities
08 Nov, 2024

Climate realities

THE Air Quality Index in Lahore once again shot past the 1,000-level mark on Wednesday morning, registering at an...
Rule by fear
08 Nov, 2024

Rule by fear

THE abduction of an opposition MNA, as claimed by PTI, is yet another grim episode in Pakistan’s ongoing crisis of...
Trump 2.0
Updated 07 Nov, 2024

Trump 2.0

It remains to be seen how his promises to bring ‘peace’ to Middle East reconcile with his blatantly pro-Israel bias.
Fait accompli
07 Nov, 2024

Fait accompli

A SLEW of secretively conceived and hastily enacted legislation has achieved its intended result: the powers of the...
IPP contracts
07 Nov, 2024

IPP contracts

THE government expects the ongoing ‘negotiations’ with power producers aimed at revising the terms of sovereign...