China’s foreign ministry rebukes Kudlow for trade remarks

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

Director of the National Economic Council, Larry Kudlow gives a press briefing about upcoming G7 in the White House in Washington, June 6, 2018.

China’s foreign ministry hit back at comments made by President Donald Trump’s top economic advisor on Thursday, saying it is clear who is right and who is wrong in an escalating trade row between the world’s two largest economies.

The U.S. and China have so far imposed tariffs on $34 billion worth of each other’s goods amid a full-blown trade war that has roiled financial markets.

Trump has recently threatened to impose a new round of charges on $200 billion of Chinese products, unless the People’s Republic agrees to change its intellectual property practices and high-technology industrial subsidy plans.

On Wednesday, Larry Kudlow, who head’s the White House Economic Council, said that while some lower-ranking Chinese officials were prepared to reach a deal, President Xi Jinping was refusing to compromise over Beijing’s trade policies.

In an interview at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha conference in New York, Kudlow said: “I don’t think President Xi at the moment has any intention of following through on the discussion we made and I think the president is so dissatisfied with China on these so-called talks that he is keeping the pressure on — and I support that.”