Chinese state media has lashed out at US president Donald Trump’s trade policies in an unusually personal attack, that came as Beijing seeks to reassure investors about the health of China’s economy as growth concerns roiled its financial markets.

China’s strictly controlled news outlets have frequently rebuked the United States and the Trump administration as the trade conflict has escalated, but they have largely refrained from specifically targeting Trump.

The latest criticism from the overseas edition of the ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper singled out Trump, saying he was starring in his own “street fighter-style deceitful drama of extortion and intimidation”.

Trump’s desire for others to play along with his drama is “wishful thinking”, a commentary on the paper’s front page said, arguing that the United States had escalated trade friction with China and turned international trade into a “zero-sum game”.

“Governing a country is not like doing business,” the paper said, adding that Trump’s actions imperilled the national credibility of the US.

The US and China implemented tariffs on $34bn worth of each other’s goods in July. Washington is expected to soon implement tariffs on an additional $16bn of Chinese goods, which China has already said it will match immediately.

On Friday, China’s finance ministry unveiled new sets of additional tariffs on 5,207 goods imported from the United States worth $60bn.

That move was in response to the Trump administration’s proposal of a 25% tariff on $200bn worth of Chinese imports.



