CHINA will stick to the path of opening its markets and other reforms that has lifted its growth, Premier Li Keqiang said Saturday, a day after the Washington and China slapped tariffs on US$34 billion worth of each others’ imports.

China will open its door wider to foreign products as free trade needs to be firmly upheld to ensure sustained global economic growth, Li told a summit of eastern European leaders in Sofia.

“For foreign products which meet Chinese consumer needs, we would open the door wider. ... We would lower overall import tariffs to the Chinese market,” he said through an interpreter, without going into details.

Li said economic reform had played a critical role in China’s growth, and that the fundamentals underpinning it remained unchanged.

“Opening up has been a key driver of China’s reform agenda so we will continue to open wider to the world, including widening market access for foreign investors,” he said.

Li said Friday that a trade war was never a solution and no one would gain from it.

He spoke Saturday to central and eastern European leaders at an annual “16+1” gathering aimed a boosting business ties and investments.(SD-Agencies)