China’s Ministry of Commerce has hit back at President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threat.
China’s commerce ministry accused the US of “blackmail” and said that the US President’s threats of additional 50% tariffs if Beijing did not reverse its own 34% reciprocal tariff were a “mistake on top of a mistake.” “China will never accept this,” the ministry said.
It vowed to resolutely take countermeasures, adding that China will “fight to the end if the US side is bent on going down the wrong path.”
Beijing’s response is the latest in a worsening tit-for-tat between the two countries.
Last week, Trump announced a swathe of tariffs ranging from 10%-50% against US trading partners to come into effect this Wednesday.
He placed a 34% tariff on imports from China – in addition to a previous 20% levy. Beijing then retaliated with a reciprocal 34% tariff on all US imports.
That prompted the US President on Monday to threaten an additional 50% tariff on to Chinese imports if Beijing did not reverse theirs.
A scathing editorial in Chinese official state news outlet, Xinhua accused Trump of “naked extortion.”
“Utterly absurd is the underlying logic of the United States: ‘I can hit you at my will, and you must not respond. Instead, you must surrender unconditionally’
“This is not diplomacy. It is blunt coercion dressed up as policy.”
Xinhua
A 1987 speech by then US President Ronald Reagan posted by China’s foreign ministry has been widely shared on social media.
The video clip, in which Reagan criticises the use of tariffs as leading to retaliation and ultimately hurting the US economy, “has a new meaning in 2025”, China’s The Paper said.
Locked In A Game Of Chicken
Wen-ti Sung, a non-resident fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub opined that the US and China were “locked in a game of chicken.”
Speaking to a news agency, Sung remarked, “Like two race cars driving directly toward each other, whoever swerves first will stand to lose prestige and profit.”
“China seems determined to signal that the world is still bipolar, and that Beijing will not let Washington get to call the shots, lest it sets the tone for the years to come. Plus China is still waiting to get more assurance from Trump that if it accommodates Trump’s demand will it get China out of his crosshairs or whether it will only whet his appetite more.
“If not, China’s main option is to respond with proportional retaliatory trade sanctions against the US, while trying to negotiate with Washington at the same time.”
Wen-ti Sung
On Tuesday Asian markets appeared to improve slightly in early trading, a day after torrid day on the global markets that prompted the billionaire investor Bill Ackman, one of the US President’s backers in the 2024 race for the White House, to call for a moratorium.
Japan’s Nikkei index rose 6%, rebounding from an 18-month low on Monday, after Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba agreed to open trade talks in a phone call late on Monday.
Chinese blue-chips climbed 0.7%, recouping a fraction of the more than 7% slide on Monday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumped 2% after suffering the worst day since 1997.
Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs targeted dozens of countries, and China is not the only one to respond.
The European Commission has proposed counter-tariffs of 25% on a range of US goods, including soybeans, nuts and sausages, while saying they stood ready to negotiate a “zero for zero” deal with Trump.
READ ALSO: Ghana Engages U.S. Over New Tariff Amid Concerns For Local Exporters
