China slams US defence act over trade restrictions

TIL Desk/World/Beijing/ Beijing on Thursday said it “firmly opposes” trade restrictions included in a new US defence act, having already admonished the bill for interfering in China’s internal affairs.

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) — signed into law last week — bars the use of federal funds to buy rail, cars and buses from China, and slows the lifting of sanctions on tech giant Huawei.

It comes as Beijing and Washington have agreed to a temporary truce in their bruising nearly two-year trade war, with a “phase-one” deal that has rolled back tariffs on billions of dollars worth of goods.

“We have noted that the US defence authorisation act… contains a number of adverse provisions against Chinese enterprises, which China firmly opposes,” Chinese commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng said at a regular briefing.