Chinese officials are rejecting trade complaints from the Group of Seven nations who say Beijing violates trade rules by subsidizing its industries and flooding the world with an oversupply of cheap goods.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said Chinese companies “rely on their abilities, not subsidies.”
“Chinese industries have thrived because of China’s hard work on innovation, well-established industrial and supply chains, participation in full market competition and abundant human resources,” Mr. Guo said at a midweek press conference. “The so-called overcapacity story is nothing but a pretext used by relevant countries to go protectionist, simply because they fear for their own competitiveness and market shares. The problem is not ’overcapacity,’ but ‘overanxiety.’”
Mr. Guo was responding to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who said China weaponized a near-monopoly on rare earth minerals and refused to follow World Trade Organization rules by dumping an overcapacity of goods on other nations.
“We are seeing a new ‘China shock’ — as China’s economy slows down, Beijing floods global markets with subsidized overcapacity that its own market cannot absorb,” Ms. von der Leyen said at the G7 summit in Alberta, Canada.
Her complaints mirrored those of President Trump and his team who say China needs to focus on domestic demand and fix other trade practices.
China’s firm grip on rare earth minerals was also a focus of U.S.-China trade talks in London, with Beijing agreeing to grant licenses to American firms while the U.S. loosened some export controls to China.
For years, American leaders have complained that Beijing engages in unfair trade practices that go beyond tariffs, from stealing intellectual property to subsidizing industries that export a flood of cheap products, undercutting producers in other countries.
Mr. Guo said other nations are attacking China to justify their own trade policies and get a leg up on China.
“The so-called ‘market distortions’ and ‘overcapacity’ accusations are absolutely false,” he said Thursday. “The G7 use them as an excuse for their trade protectionist practices, and to essentially contain and suppress China’s industrial progress, and politicize and weaponize economic and trade issues.”
U.S. and Chinese negotiators are trying to reach an understanding on trade after a de-escalation meeting in May that reduced sky-high tariffs imposed by both sides.
A second round of talks in London resolved disputes that arose from the earlier meeting, giving negotiators hope they can move on to deeper issues and strike a long-lasting deal.
