China Firmly Rejects US Claim of Tariff Deal Violation

China said on June 2 that it "firmly rejects" claims by the United States that it had violated a deal to lower crippling tariffs between the world's two largest economies, and promised to take forceful measures to safeguard its interests.

- 

BEIJING -

Beijing and Washington in May agreed to temporarily slash staggeringly high levies on each other for 90 days, after talks in Geneva.

But US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Beijing was "slow-rolling the deal", in comments to Fox News on June 1.

Beijing hit back on June 2, saying Washington "has made bogus charges and unreasonably accused China of violating the consensus, which is seriously contrary to the facts".

"China firmly rejects these unreasonable accusations," its Commerce Ministry said in a statement. It added that China had implemented and actively upheld the agreement reached in Geneva, while the US had introduced multiple "discriminatory restrictive" measures against China.

Those measures included issuing guidance on artificial intelligence (AI) chip export controls, halting sales of chip design software to China, and revoking visas for Chinese students, the ministry added.