The Chinese government issued a blistering statement on Monday, accusing the Trump administration of undercutting ongoing trade talks with Beijing.
The U.S. cautioned against using Huawei’s Ascend semiconductor chips last week, and now the Chinese Commerce Ministry says the warning “seriously undermined the consensus reached at the high-level talks between China and the U.S. in Geneva.”
Beijing is now prodding the U.S. government to “correct its mistakes.”
“This practice of using unilateral protectionism to contain and isolate other countries will ultimately undermine the competitiveness of the U.S. industry, and the result can only be to shoot itself in the foot,” the statement said.
The U.S. Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.
On May 13, the agency warned that Huawei’s Ascend chips are subject to sweeping export controls that include penalties such as fines and restrictions on export rights. The rules are part of the Trump administration’s efforts (and Biden’s before that) to hold back China’s semiconductor and AI advances.
Beijing’s barrage of criticism underscores the lingering friction between China and the U.S. Both sides have agreed to a temporary tariff truce that led to each country shrinking its triple-digit tariffs on one another. Still, the U.S. has kept a 30% tariff on Chinese imports, while China maintains a 10% levy.
The Trump administration is attempting to keep advanced, U.S.-developed chips beyond the reach of China and other nations it considers adversaries. Still, the administration rolled back a Biden-era export rule last week, potentially paving the way for U.S. companies to export advanced chips to certain trade partners without first seeking federal approval.
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