China accuses Trump of orchestrating ‘street fighter-style drama’ as trade war enters sixth month

'Governing a country is not like doing business,' Chinese media says

President Donald Trump speaks to business leaders at the Great Hall of the People on November 9, 2017 in Beijing, China (Getty)

Chinese state media has mounted an uncharacteristically personal attack on US President Donald Trump as the trade war between the two countries enters its sixth month.

The ruling Communist Party’s daily newspaper on Monday claimed the US had intentionally inflamed frictions with China, turning international trade into a "zero-sum game”, according to Reuters.

The president was “starring in his own carefully orchestrated street fighter-style deceitful drama", the People's Daily newspaper said, adding that it was "wishful thinking” that anyone else would play along.

"Governing a country is not like doing business," the paper said in an editorial.

Mr Trump has already placed a 25 per cent tariff on $34bn worth of Chinese goods, and threatened sanctions on $200bn more, claiming the country is stealing American intellectual property and threatening US jobs. He has also set his sights on lowering the approximately $375bn trade deficit between the two countries.

China has retaliated with matching tariffs on $34bn worth of American goods like tobacco, whiskey and motorcycles. On Friday, in response to Mr Trump’s threats, it unveiled plans to place additional sanctions on $60bn worth of American imports.

Factoring into the Trump administration's calculations is the yuan’s six per cent slide since the start of the summer, according to the Wall St Journal.

Also affecting the dispute is the lack of communication from either side. Larry Kudlow, Mr Trump’s chief economic adviser, told Marketplace last week that "virtually nothing has happened in a trade dialogue with China in a month or six weeks”.

Representatives for US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He were looking for ways to restart talks last week, according to Bloomberg News.

But Mr Mnuchin said only that there were "some quiet conversations" taking place, telling CNBC: “We're prepared if [Beijing] is going to make serious moves to negotiate."

The president, meanwhile, tweeted on Sunday that the tariffs were “working big time”.

“Every country on earth wants to take wealth out of the US, always to our detriment,” he tweeted. “I say, as they come, Tax them.”