BREAKING NEWS

Chinese official calls Trump 'irrational' on trade

WASHINGTON - Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei criticized Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, calling him "an irrational type" due to his proposal that tariffs on imported Chinese goods be increased to up to 45 percent.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Sunday, Lou said, "Trump is an irrational type. If he were to do this, that would be in violation of the rules set by the World Trade Organization."
Lou said that if the United States put Trump's proposal into effect, it "would not be entitled to its position as the world's major power. The US needs to recognize that the U.S. and China are mutually dependent on each other. Our economic cycles are intertwined."
He acknowledged that rhetoric in a US presidential campaign can become heated.
China is the United States' largest trading partner.
Chinese officials have generally avoided criticizing Trump directly, though they have made indirect criticism of his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States and indirectly rebuffed Trump's claims that China is stealing US jobs.