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NATION/WORLD Thursday, July 12, 2018 East Oregonian Page 7A China vows retaliation for $200 billion U.S. tariff threat AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel during their bilateral meeting, Wednesday in Brussels, Belgium. Trump rattles NATO, assails German, Russian relationship Associated Press BRUSSELS — Under fire for his warm embrace of Russia’s Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump jolted the NATO summit Wednesday by turning a spotlight on Germany’s ties to Russia and openly ques- tioning the value of the mili- tary alliance that has defined American foreign policy for decades. Trump declared that a joint natural gas pipeline venture with Moscow has left Angela Merkel’s gov- ernment “totally controlled” and “captive to Russia.” So, in a stroke, he shifted atten- tion away from his own ties to the Kremlin just days before he meets one-on-one with Putin. With scorching language, the president questioned the necessity of the alliance that formed a bulwark against Soviet aggression, tweet- ing after a day of conten- tious meetings: “What good is NATO if Germany is pay- ing Russia billions of dollars for gas and energy?” German Chancellor Merkel hit back imme- diately, not only denying Trump’s contention but sug- gesting that his comfortable upbringing in the U.S. gave him no standing to spout off on the world stage about Germany. Drawing on her own background growing up in communist East Germany behind the Iron Curtain, she said: “I’ve experienced myself a part of Germany controlled by the Soviet Union, and I’m very happy today that we are united in freedom as the Fed- eral Republic of Germany and can thus say that we can determine our own policies and make our own decisions and that’s very good.” Trump demanded by pub- lic tweet that members of the North Atlantic Treaty Orga- nization “must pay 2% of GDP IMMEDIATELY, not by 2025” for their military efforts. He then rattled U.S. allies further by privately suggesting member nations should spend 4 percent of their gross domestic prod- uct on the military — more than even the United States currently pays, according to NATO statistics. It was just the latest in Trump’s demands and insults that critics fear will undermine a decades-old alliance launched to count- er-balance Soviet aggression after World War II. And it came just days before Trump planned to sit down with Putin in Finland at the con- clusion of what has become a contentious European trip. Trump has spent weeks berating members of the alli- ance for failing to increase military spending, accusing Europe of freeloading off the U.S. and even raising doubts about whether he would come to members’ defense as required if they were ever attacked. Trump’s tongue-lash- ing accelerated during a pre-summit breakfast, when he traded his usual long-dis- tance Twitter attacks for a face-to-face confrontation with NATO Secretary-Gen- eral Jens Stoltenberg. “We’re supposed to pro- tect you against Russia but they’re paying billions of dollars to Russia and I think that’s very inappro- priate,” Trump said, repeat- edly describing Germany as “captive to Russia” because of the energy deal. He urged NATO to look into the issue. Trump’s harsh words for Merkel, whose country has hosted tens of thousands of U.S. troops that have been key to post-WWII stability in Europe for seven decades, struck at the core of the alli- ance. West Germany joined NATO in 1955 and was a critical factor in the alli- ance’s success in facing down the Soviet Union until its collapse. Reunified with the East, Germany became the largest European econ- omy in NATO in 1990. The president’s beef was with the Nord Stream 2 pipe- line that would bring gas from Russia to Germany’s northeastern Baltic coast, bypassing Eastern Euro- pean nations like Poland and Ukraine and doubling the amount of gas Russia can send directly to Germany. The vast undersea pipe- line is opposed by the U.S. and some other EU mem- bers, who warn it could give Moscow greater leverage over Western Europe. It’s expected to be online at the end of 2019. Environmental-conscious Germany is trying to reduce its reliance on coal and is phasing out nuclear power by 2022, so it hopes to use natural gas to partially fill the gap until the country’s electricity grid can cope with fluctuating levels provided by renewable energy. Hours after the breakfast, Merkel and Trump appeared to play nice as they met along the summit’s sidelines. Trump told reporters the two had a “very, very good rela- tionship” and congratulated Merkel on her “tremendous success.” While Trump went after Germany for its ties to Rus- sia, he himself has been accused by critics of being too eager to improve rela- tions with Moscow. He’s also dismissed the U.S. intel- ligence community’s assess- ment that Russia tried to undermine Western democ- racy by meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to help him win. Trump also lobbed fresh complaints about allies’ “delinquent” defense spend- ing and suggested at one point that NATO allies com- mit to spending 4 percent of their GDP on defense — twice the goal they’ve set for 2024. “I have great confidence they’ll be spending more,” he said. However, a formal sum- mit declaration issued by the NATO leaders Wednesday reaffirmed their “unwaver- ing commitment” to the 2 percent pledge set in 2014 and made no reference to any effort to go higher. BEIJING (AP) — Chi- na’s government vowed Wednesday to take “firm and forceful measures” as the U.S. threatened to expand tariffs to thou- sands of Chinese imports like fish sticks, apples and French doors, the lat- est salvo in an escalating trade dispute that threatens to chill global economic growth. China gave no details, but it has plenty of options to retaliate that could extend beyond additional tariffs on U.S. imports. There are fears that Bei- jing could attempt to dis- rupt operations of Ameri- can automakers, retailers and others that see China as a key market. The spiraling conflict stems from Washington’s complaint that Beijing steals or pressures com- panies to hand over tech- nology and concerns that plans for state-led devel- opment of Chinese cham- pions in robots and other fields might erode Amer- ican industrial leadership. A possible second round of tariff hikes announced Tuesday by the U.S. Trade Representative targets a $200 billion list of Chinese goods. That came four days after Washington added 25 percent duties on $34 billion worth of Chi- nese goods and Beijing responded by increasing taxes on the same amount of American imports. The abrupt escalation is “totally unacceptable,” said a Commerce Ministry statement. It said Beijing would take unspecified “necessary countermea- sures” to protect its “core interests.” Asked what Beijing would do, foreign min- istry spokeswoman Hua Chunying gave no details but said, “We will take firm and forceful measures.” The USTR, the federal agency that oversees inter- national trade policy and negotiations, said it was responding to Beijing’s decision to retaliate instead of changing its policies. President Donald Trump has threatened higher tar- iffs on more than $500 bil- lion of goods, or nearly all of China’s annual exports to the United States. The USTR will accept public comments on the latest round of tariffs and hold hearings Aug. 20-23 before reaching a decision after Aug. 31, according to a senior U.S. official who briefed reporters on condi- tion of anonymity. The first U.S. tariff list focused on Chinese indus- trial products, an attempt to reduce the direct impact on American consumers. The new list includes vacuum cleaners, fur- niture, auto and bicycle parts, French doors and plywood. It left untouched U.S.-branded smartphones and laptop computers. That “will hit the Chi- nese export sector hard,” said Rajiv Biswas of IHS Markit in a report. China imports far less from the U.S. than the U.S. imports from China. That means China’s imports of U.S. goods are so small that Beijing “cannot match fresh U.S. tariffs,” said Vishnu Varathan of Mizuho Bank in a report. China bought $130 bil- lion of U.S. goods last year. Both governments have raised tariffs on $34 billion worth of each oth- er’s goods and already said they are considering addi- tional charges on another $16 billion. That would leave China only $80 bil- lion for further retaliation. AP Photo/Andy Wong Imported nuts from the United States are displayed for sale at a hypermarket in Beijing on Wednesday. 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