China Signals India Levy Is A Warning On Cutting Deals With US

Chinese imposed levies on an insecticide shipped from India in what state media said is a signal that it would punish countries trying to cut deals with the US at Beijing’s expense.

China’s Ministry of Commerce imposed anti-dumping duties on Indian exports of the insecticide cypermethrin starting Wednesday, after saying it found that India was dumping the compound into its economy and causing damage to Chinese companies.

Yuyuantantian, a social media account affiliated with China’s state broadcaster that has been frequently used to indicate the official thinking on trade issues, said in a post on Wednesday that the move follows India’s imposing of 12% levies on some steel imports, which would mainly affect China.

“This retaliation against India is to tell India to stop insisting on its wrongdoing,” the post wrote. “And for those countries that are still waiting to see what happens and have similar thoughts, this is also a clear signal: if you want to use China’s interests as a bargaining chip to make exchanges, we will never agree to it, and we will certainly take countermeasures.”

China’s move on India marks the first public action since Beijing repeatedly warned it wouldn’t stand for a country signing a deal with the US that hurts the world’s number two economy.

In late April, India signaled the possibility of “early mutual wins” in its negotiations with the US, as the two nations inched closer to sealing the first tranche of a trade deal by the fall of this year.

Bloomberg News has reported that the US has been preparing to ask countries seeking tariff relief to reduce economic ties to China in a move to strengthen American leverage over Beijing as it tries to win concessions on trade.

But, in a tentative sign of de-escalation, top officials from Washington and Beijing are meeting for trade talks later this week in Switzerland.