Beijing, Apr 16 (PTI) China on Wednesday appointed a new top international negotiator after US President Donald Trump said the ball is in Beijing’s court to work out a deal to end the tariff deadlock even as the White House said Chinese exports to America may face up to a 245 per cent levy.

The development comes on a day when China’s GDP grew 5.4 per cent year on year in the first quarter of this year.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry appointed Li Chenggang as its new international trade representative replacing Wang Shouwen, who participated in negotiations in the 2020 trade deal between the world’s two largest economies, according to an official statement here.

Analysts said the appointment of Li, who was previously China’s Ambassador at World Trade Organisation (WTO), is seen as an indication by China to initiate dialogue with the Trump administration to discuss the massive escalation of tariffs by the US.

According to a fact sheet released by the White House on Tuesday, China now faces up to a 245 per cent tariff on imports to the US as a result of its retaliatory actions. Earlier it was 145 per cent.

More than 75 countries have already reached out to discuss new trade deals , the fact sheet said.

As a result, the individualised higher tariffs are currently paused amid these discussions, except for China, which retaliated, it added.

Trump earlier called on China to reach out to him to kick off negotiations to resolve the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

“The ball is in China’s court. China needs to make a deal with us. We don’t have to make a deal with them,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday, reading what she said was a statement dictated by Trump.

“There’s no difference between China and any other country except they are much larger, and China wants what we have, what every country wants, what we have – the American consumer – or to put another way, they need our money,” the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post quoted the statement as saying.

Reacting to Trump’s remarks that the ball is in China’s court to work out a deal to end the tariff deadlock, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a media briefing here on Wednesday that if the US really wants to resolve the issue through dialogue and negotiations, it should stop using maximum pressure and stop threats and black mail.

“For any dialogue to happen, it must be based on equality, respect and mutual benefit,” he said.

Lin said this tariff war was started by the US.

China has taken necessary counter measures in order to defend its legitimate rights and interests. Under international fairness and justice this is fully justified, he said. “Tariff and Trade wars have no winners. China does not want to fight these wars but is not scared of them.” It is unclear why China has appointed a new trade representative. Analysts said it could be a sign that Beijing is looking to make a breakthrough in negotiations with the US over a potential deal to end the trade war.

“It might be because against the rising tensions after Liberation Day, Li might be seen as someone who could break the impasse in the negotiations,” Alfredo Montufar-Helu, a senior adviser to the China Centre at US-based research group The Conference Board said.

Probably his experience in Geneva means that he has established linkages with key stakeholders – their governments including the US,” Alfredo told the Post.

The White House fact sheet described the Liberation Day as the day when President Trump imposed a 10 per cent tariff on all countries and individualised reciprocal higher tariffs on nations with which the US has the largest trade deficits in order to level the playing field and protect America’s national security.

Amid Trump’s tariff troubles, China’s GDP grew 5.4 per cent year on year in the first quarter of this year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data released on Wednesday.

The country’s GDP reached 31.8758 trillion Yuan (about USD 4.42 trillion) during this period, state-run Xinhua quoted the NBS data.

China has targetted its full year economic growth at around 5 per cent, which is now expected to be affected by the tariff war.

Releasing the data, the Deputy head of the NBS Sheng Laiyun said the economy “got off to a good and steady start and maintained the recovery momentum, with innovation playing an increasingly leading role” in the first quarter.

But he cautioned that “the external environment is becoming more complex and severe, the drive for the growth of effective domestic demand is insufficient, and the foundation for sustained economic recovery and growth is yet to be consolidated.” Also, China on Wednesday unveiled a work plan to boost service consumption in 2025 in order to reduce dependence on exports and spur economic growth.

The plan, jointly issued by the Ministry of Commerce and eight other government departments, aims to expand the supply of consumer services, improve service quality and unlock the growth potential of the sector, Xinhua reported.

China has identified boosting consumption as one of its major tasks for 2025 in its government work report. It has underlined the need to address inadequate domestic demand, particularly insufficient consumer spending. PTI KJV NPK NPK