Former U.S. diplomat criticizes Washington for risking U.S.-China relations

A former U.S. diplomat on Saturday criticized the U.S. administration for risking U.S.-China relations.

David Firestein, president and CEO of the George H. W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations, also known as the Bush China Foundation, said at a conference held in the Bay Area focusing on U.S.-China relations, that U.S. President Donald Trump’s tweets contain “dangerous” elements for the country.

He accused the Trump administration of “retreating from principles of limited government, of free trade and of globalization.”

“We face a very profound challenge in this country,” he said. According to him, Washington is “going dangerously off course in our handling of the most important bilateral relationship that exists in the world today.” “It’s also a huge departure from all previous past practice,” he added.

With regards to the steep tariffs Washington imposed on Chinese imports worth hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars, he said, “actually Americans are paying the tariffs.”

“The tariff is borne by the importer, and now there’s more and more evidence that the importers are passing that tax burden onto the consumers,” he explained.