Beijing warns countries against U.S. trade deals at China’s expense

The Chinese government warned countries Monday against cutting deals with President Donald Trump to restrict trade with China in exchange for relief from U.S. tariffs, saying that doing so would meet a firm response from Beijing. Smaller countries in places such as Southeast Asia are caught in the middle of an all-out trade war between the world’s two largest economies. But Beijing’s promises of expanding trade opportunities have increasingly come with warnings about not siding with Trump against China. “Both sides are still working it out.”That stalemate has made courting other countries a top priority for Beijing. “China hopes that third countries like Vietnam can withstand pressure from the Trump administration.”The difficulty for Beijing is that many countries do not want to pick sides.