Attendees at a Chinese electronics conference were offered a way to relieve stress regarding the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China: smacking a likeness of President Donald Trump with a hammer.
Billed as a "stress-relief station" at the Consumer Electronics Show Asia (CES Asia) in Shanghai, the area allows individuals to use a hammer to smash a life-sized bust of Trump, the AFP reports.
Japanese tech firm Soliton Systems set up the booth and Takenori Ohira, a manager with the company, told AFP that Chinese conferencegoers had been "very excited" about utilizing the display.
"The reason we chose Trump is because he is in a sense very outstanding among all the American presidents from the past," Ohira told AFP. "That is why we chose him."
Individuals visiting the booth told AFP that they would prefer to use something other than a hammer, apparently in an expression of frustration over the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China.
"It would be better if I could use my hands and feet. I think the hammer isn't satisfying enough," Wang Dongyue told AFP after taking his turn with the bobblehead and hammer. I don't have a good impression of him to be frank, because he's not very friendly to China now."
"They should have a boxing glove. That would feel better," another conference participant, Liu Di, said after watching others hit a replica of the president.
The ongoing trade war between the Trump administration and China began in April 2018 when Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on between 50 and 60 million in goods exported from China. In response, China placed tariffs on items it exports from the U.S.
While the countries engaged in trade talks in December, no deal was made and in May, the president levied an additional $200 billion in tariffs, raising the percentage from 10 percent to 25 percent. An additional $300 billion in tariffs are possible, though Trump indicated that he will wait until after the G-20 Summit in Japan later this month before deciding to invoke those taxes.
Speaking to CNBC on Monday, Trump said his decision would depend on a meeting between himself and Chinese President Xi Jinping which Trump said would occur during the summit. However, China has not publicly acknowledged any planned meeting between the two leaders.
On Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said that China is not afraid of a trade war, should it come to that. Both Trump and Xi have insisted that the two countries are not currently in a trade war, despite both countries levying tariffs at one another for over a year.
"China does not want to fight a trade war, but we are not afraid of fighting a trade war. If the United States only wants to escalate trade frictions, we will resolutely respond and fight to the end," Geng said.
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