Feline Lim / Reuters Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi shake hands during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Singapore on Aug. 3, 2018.

OTTAWA — China says it deplores a controversial new clause in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that calls on the countries to notify each other if they enter into trade talks with a "non-market" economy. In a scathing statement, the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa says section 32.10 of the new USMCA amounts to an act of political dominance by the U.S., which it blames for inserting the clause some argue gives the Americans a veto over Canada and Mexico pursuing free trade with China. The Trump administration is embroiled in a trade war with China and has slapped tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods, prompting retaliation from Beijing. Watch: PM says help for dairy industry is on the way

Now, China says the White House is using the contentious clause in the new agreement with Canada and Mexico to prevent those countries from trading with it. While the clause does not mention China specifically, the provision is being widely seen as an attempt to single out Beijing. China has no doubt it is the target of the clause, which requires an USMCA member country to provide notice and information to the other two partners if it plans free trade talks with a "non-market" economy. It also gives the other partners a say in the text of such a deal. In a statement to The Canadian Press, Chinese Embassy spokesman Yang Yundong calls the move "dishonest behaviour" that blatantly interferes with the sovereignty of other countries. More from HuffPost Canada: 'Unprecedented' USMCA Clause Gives U.S. Influence Over Canadian Trade Deals

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USMCA Name Has Trump Written All Over It China disputes that it is a non-market economy, saying it is a member in good standing of the World Trade Organization. "China firmly supports the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its core and props up an open world economy," said Yang. "We oppose to fabricating the concepts of 'market country' and 'non-market country' outside the framework of WTO, which in essence is the excuse made by some countries to shirk their obligations and refuse to meet their international commitments." China will continue to pursue commerce with other countries in the face of "trade restrictions," added Yang. "China will consistently pursue opening-up at its own pace and continuously carry out mutually beneficial and win-win economic and trade co-operation with countries worldwide treating it in an equal-footed and friendly way."