China orders U.S. Chengdu consulate shut; protesters jeer Houston closure

BEIJING/HOUSTON (Reuters) - China on Friday ordered the United States to close its consulate in Chengdu in response to a U.S. order for China to shut its Houston consulate, where staff packed up belongings watched by jeering protesters amid a sharp deterioration in relations between the world’s two largest economies.

The order to close the consulate in Chengdu, a city in southwestern China’s Sichuan province, continued Beijing’s recent practice of like-for-like responses to Washington’s actions.

Beijing had threatened retaliation after the Trump administration this week gave it 72 hours - until 4 p.m. on Friday - to vacate its consulate in the Texas city, and had urged the United States to reconsider.