China's claims to South Korea and Japan following the tariff measures of US President Donald Trump
China asks South Korea not to export products containing rare lands to American defense companies and urges Japan to fight together against US tariffs.
China's requirements following the commercial war with the US photo: Shutterstock
Beijing recently asked South Korean companies not to export to American defense companies, Reuters reports. The China Ministry of Trade has sent this message through letters sent to South Korean companies that produce transformers, batteries, electric vehicles and medical equipment, using rare metals.
In the letters sent, it is emphasized that these South Korean companies may face sanctions if they violate export restrictions. The US imports much of its need for rare metals, especially from China. But the Beijing government has set export restrictions for some of these elements, as reprisals for the customs duties imposed by US President Donald Trump on imports from China.
Also, Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang sent a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba requesting a coordinated response to the tariff measures of US President Donald Trump, the Japanese news agency Kyodo reported on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
The letter, sent through the Chinese Embassy in Japan, stressed the need to “fight together against protectionism”.
Beijing on Monday warned countries against the conclusion of a larger economic agreement with the United States to its detriment, intensifying their rhetoric in a spiral commercial war between the two largest economies in the world.
Japan, one of Washington's closest allies, has been among the dozens of countries targeted by Trump's radical tariffs earlier this month and began negotiations with the United States to try to solve the problem.
The relationships between Beijing and Tokyo have been tense in recent years by a number of problems, from territorial disputes to commercial tensions.
