Trump 'extortion' won't work: China media

China's People's Daily newspaper has lashed out at Donald Trump over trade, saying he was starring in his own "deceitful drama of extortion and intimidation".

Chinese state media outlets have lashed out at US President Donald Trump's trade policies in an unusually personal attack, and sought to reassure investors worried about China's economy.

China's strictly controlled news outlets have frequently rebuked the US and the Trump administration as the trade conflict has escalated.

The latest criticism from the overseas edition of the ruling Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper singled out Trump, saying he was starring in his own "street fighter-style deceitful drama of extortion and intimidation".

Trump's desire for others to play along with his drama is "wishful thinking", a commentary on the paper's front page said, arguing the US had escalated trade friction with China and turned international trade into a "zero-sum game".

"Governing a country is not like doing business," the paper said, adding that Trump's actions imperilled the national credibility of the US.

The heated dispute between the world's two biggest economies has roiled financial markets including stocks, currencies and the global trade of commodities from soybeans to coal in recent months.

The US and China implemented tariffs on $US34 billion ($A45.95 billion) worth of each other's goods in July. Washington is expected to soon implement tariffs on an additional $US16 billion of Chinese goods, which China has already said it will match immediately.

On Friday, China's finance ministry unveiled new sets of additional tariffs on 5207 goods imported from the US worth $US60 billion.

That move was in response to the Trump administration's proposal of a 25-per-cent tariff on $US200 billion worth of Chinese imports.

The trade war, rising corporate bankruptcies, and a steep decline in the value of the yuan versus the US dollar have raised concerns that China's economy could face a steeper slowdown.

The government has responded by releasing more liquidity into the banking system, encouraging lending and promising a more "active" fiscal policy.

The paper's vitriol follows Trump's comments on Twitter from Saturday in which he boasted that his strategy of placing steep tariffs on Chinese imports was "working far better than anyone ever anticipated", and that Beijing was now talking to the US about trade.

Trump cited losses in China's stock market as he predicted the US market could "go up dramatically" once trade deals were renegotiated.

China's stocks were lower on Monday as Beijing's latest tariff threats escalated the tit-for-tat Sino-US trade war, though the central bank's efforts to shore up the tumbling yuan helped to stabilise the currency.

On Friday, the People's Bank of China said it would require banks to keep reserves equivalent to 20 per cent of their clients' foreign exchange forwards positions from Monday, in a move to stabilise the yuan.

The nationalist Global Times in an editorial said China did not fear "sacrificing short-term interests".

"China has time to fight to the end. Time will prove that the US eventually makes a fool of itself," it said.


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Source: AAP



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