China ‘regrets’ US withdrawal from international postal rate system

China on Thursday said that it “regrets” the United States’ decision to withdraw from the United Nation’s treaty that regulates international postage.

“We regret the US decision to withdraw from the Universal Postal Union,” Lu told reporters at a daily press briefing, according to The Associated Press. “We will continue working with all sides to make our contributions to the development of global postal service.”

The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that the United States would withdraw from the Universal Postal Union (UPU).

{mosads}The UPU treats China, an economic powerhouse, as a developing nation and consequently grants it shipping discounts that some U.S. producers say allows them to be outcompeted.

The Trump administration says that the system penalizes U.S. manufacturers and lets China flood the market with cheap goods.

“This is a strong action by this administration to fix this flawed system and make it better,” a senior administration official said of the decision.

The White House hopes to leverage a renegotiation of the UPU’s rates, which it says other members of the UPU have opposed, according to a senior administration official.

“Our goal here is to get fair rates, not necessarily to get out of the Universal Postal Union,” the official told reporters.

The withdrawal comes weeks after Trump delivered a speech to the U.N. slamming globalism. 

“America is governed by Americans,” Trump said. “We reject the ideology of globalism and we embrace the doctrine of patriotism.”

It is also another move in an increasingly heated trade war between the U.S. and China, as each nation has slapped escalating tariffs on the other.

In September, Trump slammed Beijing with tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods, after which Beijing hit $60 billion in U.S. goods with tariffs.

The president has threatened to impose another $257 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods, which would completely cover all U.S. imports from China.