China preparing blacklist of US companies, signaling threat to trade talks

A response from China on the Xinjiang issue that hits US companies would add another obstacle as the two countries struggle to finalise a phase-one deal to de-escalate the trade war.

Chinese state media said the government will soon publish a list of “unreliable entities” that could lead to sanctions against US companies, signaling that trade talks between the two nations are increasingly under threat from disputes over human rights in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.

The Communist Party-backed Global Times said in a tweet early Tuesday that the list was being sped up in response to a bill sponsored by Republican Senator Marco Rubio requiring measures against Chinese officials involved in alleged abuses of Uighur Muslims in the far west region of Xinjiang. Beijing has threatened to publish such a list of companies since May, after the US placed restrictions on Huawei Technologies Co.

A response from China on the Xinjiang issue that hits US companies would add another obstacle as the two countries struggle to finalise a phase-one deal to de-escalate the trade war. On Monday, US President Donald Trump said that legislation signed last week censuring China over the protests in Hong Kong had already complicated the talks.

Global Times Editor-in-Chief Hu Xijin went further on Twitter, saying that US officials may face visa restrictions and US passport holders could be banned from entering the province. China stands accused of incarcerating as many as a million Uighurs as part of an anti-terrorism campaign, actions it describes as voluntary re-education.

China hasn’t specified which companies would be affected by the blacklist, though courier firm FedEx Corp. has been under particular scrutiny this year. A re-escalation of trade tensions also places more focus on a Dec. 15 deadline for Trump to add yet more tariffs on Chinese imports.

The US House of Representatives is expected to vote Tuesday on the Xinjiang bill, which was passed by the Senate in September. The vote comes shortly after Trump signed into law a bill that supports pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong by placing the city’s special trading status under annual review and threatening sanctions on officials who undermine its semi-autonomy from Beijing.

That legislation, along with a bill that bans the export of crowd control devices to Hong Kong police, led China to threaten sanctions on some human rights organizations and halt US naval visits to the city.

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India cannot sacrifice economic strength to comply with US sanctions: FM

Sitharaman said the Indian government has expressed its view to the United States.

India wants to comply with global sanctions, including US sanctions on Venezuela and Russia, but also needs to maintain its own strength and strategic interests, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in an interview on Tuesday.

The United States in January imposed the toughest sanctions yet on Venezuela's oil industry. The move has scared away some global customers, but with few alternative suppliers of heavy oil, Indian refiner Reliance Industries Ltd has been buying Venezuelan crude from Russian major Rosneft. The company is set to resume direct oil loadings in the South American nation after a four-month pause.

Sitharaman said the Indian government has expressed its view to the United States.

"In specific issues which are critical for India's strategic interests, we have explained to the United States that India is a strategic partner for the United States of America and you want a strategic partner to be strong and not weakened," she said.

"We value the strong partnership with the USA, but we should equally be allowed to be a strong economy."

The International Monetary Fund earlier on Tuesday lowered its outlook for Indian growth in 2019, citing weaker-than-expected domestic demand. The US-China trade war will cut 2019 global growth to its slowest pace since the 2008/09 financial crisis, the IMF said.

India's gross domestic product grew at its weakest pace since 2013 between April and June, stoking expectations of further stimulus.

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"Global headwinds ... are getting stronger by the day," Sitharaman said. Asked about further fiscal stimulus, she said: "I have not closed the door" on that.

New Delhi has been trying to boost domestic growth through an infrastructure package and a new loan programme organised with the banking sector that has doled out loans worth over 80,000 crore (8.7 billion pounds), she said.

The finance minister defended the government's controversial actions in Jammu and Kashmir in August. India stripped the Muslim-majority portion of the state, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan, of autonomy on Aug. 5. Since then the government has shut off phone networks, imposed curfew-like restrictions in some areas, and arrested thousands, including hundreds of local politicians.