China said the US “severely violated” the consensus reached during their recent trade talks in Geneva and threatened “forceful measures” in response, dealing a big blow to the prospect of a thaw in the trade war between the two largest economies.
The Chinese commerce ministry on Monday accused Washington of seriously undermining progress in mending trade relations with its series of actions, including the revocation of visas for Chinese students.
The statement marked the latest sign of deteriorating relations between China and the US under Donald Trump, who imposed sweeping import levies on Beijing and sparked a tit-for-tat tariff war.
The two sides had managed to dial down tensions after a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, last month led to the lowering of tariffs on goods imported from each nation and even raised hopes of a phone call between Mr Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The commerce ministry said China was “strictly implementing” the consensus reached in Geneva but the US was taking steps that “seriously undermine” it, state media reported.
“The United States has been unilaterally provoking new economic and trade frictions, exacerbating the uncertainty and instability of bilateral economic and trade relations,” it said.
“If the US insists on its own way and continues to damage China’s interests, China will continue to take resolute and forceful measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.”
This came after Mr Trump said in a Truth Social post on Friday that China had “TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US”.
The president said he had agreed to a fast deal with Beijing to “save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation”.
“So much for being Mr NICE GUY!” he added.
Mr Trump told reporters he wanted to speak with Mr Xi to resolve their ongoing disputes.
China, on the other side, accused Washington of violating trade agreements by issuing “export control guidelines for AI chips, stopping the sale of chip design software to China, and announcing the revocation” of visas for students from the Asian country.
As tensions resurfaced, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday the negotiations with China were “a bit stalled”.
“What China is doing is they are holding back products that are essential for the industrial supply chains of India, of Europe, and that is not what a reliable partner does,” Mr Bessent told CBS News.
He suggested that a phone call between Mr Trump and Mr Xi would be necessary to break the stalemate.
Mr Trump had signaled his wish to have a phone call with Mr Xi as early as February and even said he was willing to visit his counterpart, although no such arrangement was scheduled.
