HARBIN, May 17. /TASS/. Sanctions on the supply of a number of goods from Russia and China to the United States will lead to higher inflation in the United States itself, Russian President Vladimir Putin said talking to Russian reporters accompanying him on his official state visit to China.
"You see, this is a problem that they are creating for themselves. They have imposed sanctions on these goods and those goods, what will this lead to? To inflation in the USA - that’s what it will lead to. Because they will try to produce it themselves, locally, paying wages to their workers, using their own metal, which is already expensive, using their expensive energy," he said responding to a question about imposing duties on a number of Chinese goods, including electric cars, in the US.
Putin noted that sanctions are elements of economic war and are nothing new.
"Politics, the nature of relations between Russia and China, the situation in Ukraine, I assure you, have nothing to do with this. These are simply elements of unfair competition," the head of state said.
As an example, Putin cited the production of MC-21 aircraft, the supply of imported components for which was refused, despite the civilian purpose of this model.
"Yes, we lost time, the production was delayed by about six months. But we ourselves made these components - the harnesses for the wings, we made them well, even better than American-made ones in terms of quality and durability of their use. The same result will be here," he added.
According to the Russian President, restrictions on the Chinese automobile industry are due to the fact that they have become better and cheaper than their European and American counterparts.
"They simply kill off a competitor, in this case a Chinese competitor. They don’t allow them into their market - this is a prohibitive duty. And in Europe, of course, the same thing is happening," Putin said.
Earlier, the United States announced a sharp increase in tariffs on high-tech goods from China, as well as steel and aluminum to "protect American investments." Tariffs for electric vehicles, in particular, have quadrupled - from 25% to 100%. Washington once again justified the need for restrictions on the "unfair trade practices" of Beijing, whose goods are cheaper than American ones on the world market. At the same time, the US Treasury expressed hope that China will not take retaliatory measures.