As U.S.-China trade tensions are escalating, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Wednesday his government is able to help the domestic economy withstand challenges."China is confronted with a host of difficulties and challenges in economic development," Li acknowledged during an address speaking at a World Economic Forum conference in Tianjin, China.
"Deeply integrated into the world economy, the Chinese economy is inevitably affected by notable changes in the global economic and trade context," he said. "Indeed, we're facing greater difficulties in keeping stable performance of the Chinese economy."
But Li insisted his country was comfortable with its economic situation. Li said Beijing has "prepared sufficient tools for us to deal with risks and challenges" and added that "these policy tools will boost China's resilience to cope with various challenges and difficulties."
Going forward, the Chinese premier said, his country did not expect to make any major changes to its macroeconomic policy, but would instead be "giving more attentions to preemptive measures and fine tunings."
'More harm than good'
Li, who is second-in-command to Chinese President Xi Jinping, did not specifically mention the trade dispute between China and the U.S. but he echoed a frequent Beijing refrain that "free trade" benefits the world overall, and that countries should make decisions together.
"It is essential that we uphold the basic principles of multilateralism and free trade," he said. "Irrespective of the rooms for improvement for these rules, we believe that these rules have first and foremost benefited the progress of all mankind. And for any existing problems, they need to be worked out through consultation: No unilateralism will offer a viable solution."
Keep the screws tight, Donald.