China does not need the “preferential treatment” on trade today that would’ve been justified decades ago, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC on Wednesday.

Ross said the U.S. doesn’t mind competition — but that it wants the race to be “on a fair and level playing field.”

The United States made a policy decision after World War II to help Asia and European countries recover from that conflict, but that policy no longer is as relevant as it once was, he said.

“It’s very hard to say that China as world second largest economy needs the same sort of preferential treatment that it might be justified to have decades ago,” Ross said.

Ross was speaking to CNBC’s “Squawk Box” aftera trip to Beijing that precedes President Donald Trump visit to the mainland in November

Source: cnbc china
Wilbur Ross: China doesn't need 'preferential treatment' on trade anymore