US president-elect Donald Trump would be a “naive” fool to launch an all-out trade war against China, a Communist party-controlled newspaper has claimed.
During the acrimonious race for the White House Trump repeatedly lashed out at China, vowing to punish Beijing with “defensive” 45% tariffs on Chinese imports and to officially declare it a currency manipulator.
“When they see that they will stop the cheating,” the billionaire Republican, who has accused Beijing of “the greatest theft in the history of the world”, told a rally in August.
On Monday the state-run Global Times warned that such measures would be a grave mistake.
“If Trump wrecks Sino-US trade, a number of US industries will be impaired. Finally the new president will be condemned for his recklessness, ignorance and incompetence,” the newspaper said in an editorial.
The Global Times claimed any new tariffs would trigger immediate “countermeasures” and “tit-for-tat approach” from Beijing.
“A batch of Boeing orders will be replaced by Airbus. US auto and iPhone sales in China will suffer a setback, and US soybean and maize imports will be halted. China can also limit the number of Chinese students studying in the US.”
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has proposed that Europe should impose a carbon tax on American imports if Donald Trump pulls the United States out of the Paris climate pact.
More than 100 countries have ratified the Paris global emissions deal, which was inked in December after marathon talks to cap greenhouse gases that cause global warming.
"Donald Trump has said – we’ll see if he keeps this promise – that he won’t respect the conclusions of the Paris climate agreement,” Sarkozy, who is a French presidential candidate told the TF1 television channel on Sunday.
“Well, I will demand that Europe put in place a carbon tax at its border, a tax of 1-3 per cent, for all products coming from the United States, if the United States doesn’t apply environmental rules that we are imposing on our companies,” he added.
Business leaders south of the border say the U.S. presidential campaign has underlined Mexico's need to reduce its dependence on the United States and the Mexican government sees TPP as a crucial part of efforts to trade more with Asia.
[Economy Minister Ildefonso] Guajardo said he expected as many as seven signatories to have ratified TPP by the end of 2016, mentioning Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia.
Japan's lower house approved the deal on Thursday.
If the U.S. Congress does not ratify the deal, Guajardo said consideration should be given to whether the remainder could put into effect without the world's biggest economy.
"We'll need to talk with the others to change the limiting clause that meant us having to wait until the United States had completed the approval process," Guajardo said.
And from Canada, of course, politeness:
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday he is willing to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which US President-elect Donald Trump has said he wants to change or scrap.
During the campaign, Trump called NAFTA the worst trade deal the United States has ever signed, while proposing protectionist measures to repatriate American jobs lost to free trade.
"I think it's important that we be open to talking about trade deals," Trudeau -- a fierce defender of free trade, which helps bolster the Canadian economy -- told reporters.
"If the Americans want to talk about NAFTA, I'm more than happy to talk about it," he said, adding that it was important to periodically reassess trade deals to ensure that they continue to be of benefit to Canadians.