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WASHINGTON – The trade war between the United States and China showed no signs of yielding on Thursday, as Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary, told the law of the United States of America (19659002 ] Mr. Mnuchin, who has tried to avoid calling the trade tensions with China has "war," said talks with Beijing had "broken down" and suggested it was up to China to come to the table with concessions. President Trump, speaking in Brussels on Thursday, described the trade talks with China as a "nasty" battle.
The Chinese, meanwhile, accused the United States of "acting erratically" and said the administration had "blatantly abandoned the consensuses that "
Republicans and Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee showed little patience for Mr. Mnuchin's answers about the lack of progress
The White House has already hit Beijing with tariffs on $ 34 billion worth of imports and China has responded with a similar amount of levies on American goods , including soybeans, pork and cars. On Tuesday, the administration outlined tariffs on another $ 200 billion worth of Chinese products,
"Is there a master plan?" Asked Representative Mia Love, Republican of Utah . "
Lawmakers from both sides of the world, with their carmakers, nail manufacturers, and other businesses, to the fate of their industries.
On Thursday they pressed Mr. Mnuchin, who is seen as a voice of moderation in the administration, to persuade Mr. Trump to back away from the United States.
Representative Jeb Hensarling, Republican of Texas and Chairman of the Committee, told Mr. Mnuchin that he was deeply concerned about the state of the art. He said that he was not impressed with the fact that Mr. Trump had struck with South Korea, and warned that the economic growth was at risk.
"I would just assure you the impact on the economy of all these trade issues, "Mr. Mnuchin said in response to questions about the economic effect.
Mr. Mr. Trump's priority, which did nothing to mollify Mr. Hensarling, a close ally of the president
"I appreciate the words; I am concerned about the deeds, "he said.
Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee also repeatedly – and exasperatedly – pushed another Trump administration official to detail a prevailing in the trade dispute during a hearing on Thursday morning.
"Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee and the Committee's chairman, said Manisha Singh, Assistant Secretary at the State Department, as she prepared to testify.
"To my knowledge, not a single person is able to articulate where this is headed, nor what the plans are, nor what the strategy is," Mr. Corker said.
The committee's top Democrat, Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, told Ms. Singh at another point that "I do not understand what the pathway is here, at the end of the day."
Ms. Singh, who leads the department's Office of Economic Affairs and Business, defended the administration's moves. "Our endgame is for China to change its behavior," she said.
After Ms. Singh tried to explain the administration's approach, Mr. Corker replied, "That enlightened us in no way."
While Mr. Trump
"I would not want to, you know, dive into a bunch of hypotheticals here, "Mr. Powell said," but I would say, you can imagine situations that would be very challenging. "
The Trump administration has asked China to make a wide array of changes, including reduc ingestion of the United States, stopping what it describes as theft of American intellectual property and opening
But by giving the Chinese to a long list of demands, that has encouraged Beijing to focus on those They are easiest to fulfill, said Jeremie Waterman, president of the China Center at the US Chamber of Commerce.
"The administration, to a degree, has given the Chinese an off ramp," he said. "
China has also had difficulty figuring out who to negotiate with, with Mr. Mnuchin and Wilbur Ross, the trade secretary, fell through.
"I think they're coming to the conclusion that it does not matter whether or not they're really figuring out what trump wants," said Claire Reade, senior counsel at Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer.
In a sign of the impasse that the dialogue between China and the United States has reached, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce issued a statement on Thursday arguing that it has been unfairly vilified with false claims
"This is a distortion of facts, thus groundless," the ministry said. "For the purpose of meeting domestic political needs and suppressing China's development, the U.S. has fabricated a set of policy arguments that distort the truth about Sino-U.S. economic and trade relations. "
Mr. Mnuchin said on Thursday that Mr. Trump would not do anything to jeopardize economic growth. He insisted that he would be persuaded to promote such businesses as Harley-Davidson, the motorcycle maker, not to move manufacturing to the breadth of retaliatory tariffs.
While Mr. Mnuchin was successful in staving off draconian new Chinese investment restrictions, the tariffs have kept coming and it remains unclear how much influence he really has with Mr. Trump. Despite his private reservations, Mr. Mnuchin continues to defend the administration's trade policies.
"I can assure you that the President is in my opinion," Mr. Mnuchin said in response to a question from Representative Gregory W. Meeks, Democrat of New York. "He is the president. Sometimes he follows my advice, and sometimes he does not, which I respect. "
Unimpressed, Mr. Meeks mocked Mr. Trump for describing himself for the second time on Thursday a" very stable genius "and asked the Treasury the same way
"I am stable," Mr. Mnuchin said with a chuckle.
Ana Swanson contributed reporting.
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