CHINA will soon slap a penalty on an un-named U.S. automaker for monopolistic behavior, the China Daily newspaper reported yesterday, quoting a senior State planning official.

    News of the penalty comes at a sensitive time for China-U.S. relations after U.S. president-elect Donald Trump called into question a long-standing U.S. policy of acknowledging that Taiwan is part of “one China.”

    Investigators found the U.S. company had instructed distributors to fix prices starting in 2014, Zhang Handong, director of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)’s price supervision bureau, was quoted as saying.

    In an exclusive interview with the newspaper Zhang said no one should “read anything improper” into the timing or target of the penalty.

    The article did not give further details.

    In a separate editorial, China Daily urged Trump to recognize the importance of close economic ties between China and the United States rather than “trying to gain an upper hand in what is essentially a win-win relationship.”

    “History proves that what it is good for Sino-U.S. relations is good for their economies,” it said, noting that Chinese customers bought more than a third of the 9.96 million vehicles GM sold worldwide last year.

    “For the American economy to be great again... the United States needs to cement its economic relations with China, rather than destroy them.”

    Trump’s challenges to the Chinese mainland on trade and Taiwan have rattled American companies who have long benefited from stable relations between the two countries but now fear retaliation by China if Trump were to act.

    The penalty is part of a government crackdown on what it has called anti-trust behavior by foreign automakers and dealers.

    It would be the second penalty by the NDRC this month and the seventh fine issued to automakers since the commission begananti-monopoly investigations in 2011, the newspaper said.

    Targeted firms have included Audi AG, Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz and Toyota Motor Corp., and one of Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.’s joint ventures.

    In 2011, China imposed duties of up to 22 percent on large cars and SUVs exported from the United States during a wide-ranging spat on trade and currencies that became a focus of criticism for U.S. presidential candidates.(SD-Agencies)