China's Foreign Ministry Responds To US Tariffs

China's foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Wednesday he hoped the U.S. would stop using national security as a pretext and create a "fair environment" for Chinese companies, according to a Reuters report.

Shuang also said the U.S. has been abusing its national power to smear Chinese companies, and added that this was not honorable.

What To Know

Shuang is responding to a question on expectations for U.S. President Donald Trump to sign an executive order this week barring U.S. companies from using telecoms equipment made by firms posing a national security risk and more specifically from using equipment manufactured by China's Huawei.

Trump is expected to sign executive order laying ground for a Huawei ban. According to Reuters, the order has been under consideration for a year now and would not specifically name Huawei or China, but invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. This would be used to block Chinese investments in industries or technologies "deemed important" to the U.S.

What's Next

China has retaliated in a trade war that has raised concerns about the future of global economic growth. The Asian nation on Monday announced increased tariffs on $60 billion of goods from the U.S. after the U.S. raised tariffs to 25 percent from 10 percent on $200 billion in Chinese goods and trade talks between the world's two largest economies didn't result in a deal last week.

The new tariffs from China are set to go into effect June 1.

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Photo credit: Emily Elconin