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US curbs China nuclear exports as Trump warns Americans not ‘stupid’
WASHINGTON, Oct 12, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The United States said Thursday that
it will increasingly restrict civilian nuclear exports to China as President
Donald Trump vowed a hard line on trade, bluntly warning not to think
Americans are “stupid.”
The US Energy Department said it would make it more difficult to ship
nuclear technology to China, one of the few growing markets for new plants as
the Asian economy tries to meet rising electricity demand through low-carbon
sources.
“The United States cannot ignore the national security implications of
China’s efforts to obtain nuclear technology outside of established processes
of US-China civil nuclear cooperation,” Energy Secretary Rick Perry said in a
statement.
The measures are the latest salvo in a widening US drive to pressure
China, with the Trump administration recently slapping $250 billion in
tariffs.
The Energy Department said it would not end exports to China but would
show greater scrutiny and that there “will be a presumption of denial” for
new licenses related to the state-owned China General Nuclear Power Corp.
The company was indicted last year along with a naturalized US citizen on
charges of conspiring to develop sensitive nuclear material with US know-how
without going through the required approval process.
The US already carefully reviews nuclear exports through the Energy
Department’s so-called Part 810 authorizations, which verify if the
technology goes to peaceful use and will not be sent to a third country.
“For decades China has maintained a concerted, central government-run
strategy to acquire nuclear technology to gain economic advantage,” a US
official said on condition of anonymity.
The United States last year shipped $170 million in nuclear exports to
China, according to official figures. A 2017 Commerce Department report
ranked China as the second largest market for US nuclear exporters, second
only to Britain.
“We understand that the US industry may suffer in the short term from this
decision,” the official said.
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“However, China’s concerted effort to emulate and displace US nuclear
products could cause the permanent loss of global markets and domestic jobs
in the long run,” he said.
– ‘Americans are not stupid people’ –
Former president Barack Obama in 2015 signed off on an extension of
nuclear cooperation between the United States and China, with his
administration arguing that Beijing had moved to tighten controls as part of
renewal negotiations.
Relations between the world’s two largest economies have soured sharply,
however, with Trump earlier Thursday vowing to inflict economic pain on China
if it does not blink in a trade war.
“They lived too well for too long and, frankly, I guess they think that
the Americans are stupid people. Americans are not stupid people,” Trump said
in an interview on “Fox and Friends.”
The mogul-turned-president boasted that his tariffs had already “had a big
impact.”
“Their economy has gone down very substantially,” he said. “I have a lot
more to do if I want to do it. I don’t want to do it but they have to come to
the table.”
Trump is pressing China to improve trading conditions for US products and
to end what US businesses say is widespread theft of their intellectual
property.
China has responded by imposing counter tariffs, which the Trump
administration alleges show political interference by targeting products from
key states in next month’s congressional elections.
The International Monetary Fund this week cited the trade war as it
lowered its 2019 growth forecast for China, which is set to see its slowest
expansion since 1990. The IMF also lowered estimates for the United States
and the global economy as a whole.
Trump renewed his charge that past presidents Obama and George W. Bush
“let China get out of control” through the massive US imports of manufactured
goods.
“We have helped rebuild China more than any other factor. We have helped
rebuild it. I said it’s over.”
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