China vows response to latest US tariffs also targeting Canada, Mexico
FILE PHOTO: A truck transports a container near gantry cranes unloading containers from a cargo ship, at a port in Tianjin, China February 8, 2025. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo
BEIJING: China on Friday (Feb 28) vowed to take "all necessary countermeasures" after United States President Donald Trump said he would impose an additional 10 per cent tariff on Chinese imports - a decision Beijing warned would "seriously impact dialogue".
Trump's latest move will come into effect on Tuesday alongside sweeping 25 per cent levies on Canadian and Mexican imports, intensifying a brewing trade war between the world's two largest economies.
The 10 per cent tariff on Chinese imports will come on top of an existing levy of the same rate imposed by Trump on China earlier this month.
Trump had announced - then halted - sweeping 25 per cent levies on Canadian and Mexican imports this month over illegal immigration and deadly fentanyl, with Canadian energy to face a lower rate.
But the month-long pause ends on Tuesday.
Following reporters' questions on whether he planned to proceed with the tariffs next week, Trump wrote on social media on Thursday that until the problem of fentanyl stops "or is seriously limited", the proposed levies will happen as scheduled.
"China will likewise be charged an additional 10 per cent Tariff on that date," he added, referring to Mar 4.
In response to Trump's allegations that Beijing is contributing to the fentanyl crisis in the US, a spokesperson for China's commerce ministry said on Friday that Washington was "shifting the blame".
"China is one of the countries with the strictest and most thorough anti-narcotics policy in the world," the statement read.
"But the US side has always ignored these facts," it said.
"If the US side insists on going its own way, the Chinese side will take all necessary countermeasures to defend its legitimate rights and interests," it said.
The statement also said that the tariff hike "is not conducive to solving (the United States') own problems", adding that it would "increase the burden on American companies and consumers, and undermine the stability of the global industrial chain".
Shortly after the statement was published, China's foreign ministry warned that the new tariffs would "seriously impact dialogue" between the two countries on narcotics control, accusing Washington of "blackmail".
"Pressure, coercion and threats are not the correct way to deal with China. Mutual respect is the basic premise," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a daily press conference.
The fresh China tariffs coincide with the start of China's annual parliamentary meet, a setpiece political event at which Beijing is expected to roll out its 2025 economic priorities.
The announcement leaves Beijing less than a week to publish countermeasures, as Trump's administration shows signs of a hardening stance towards its strategic rival despite backing down on the threat of tariffs of up to 60 per cent when he took office.
China's leadership will convene next week to hammer out plans to shield its economy from Trump's threats.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday said she hoped to speak with Trump to avoid being hit by his threatened tariffs.
A high-level Mexican delegation is in Washington in search of an agreement.
And Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said officials are working around the clock to avert US levies but would have an "immediate" response if measures were imposed next week.
Trudeau has repeatedly stressed that less than 1 per cent of the fentanyl and undocumented migrants that enter the US come through the Canadian border.
Trump's threats have sent shivers through major exporter countries.
Asian markets were all well in the red early on Friday, with Tokyo briefly shedding 3 per cent.
RECIPROCAL TARIFFS
Besides levies over fentanyl, Trump added on his Truth Social platform that an Apr 2 date for so-called reciprocal tariffs "will remain in full force and effect".
These will be tailored to each US trading partner, with details to come after government agencies complete studies on trade issues which Trump has called for.
In a letter this week by Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao to newly confirmed US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Wang noted that Trump has called for many trade investigations "aimed at China" and urged both sides to resolve their differences via dialogue.
In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused China of waging a "reverse" Opium War over fentanyl, suggesting that Beijing may be "deliberately" flooding America with the synthetic opioid.
He was referring to the two 19th-century Opium Wars China lost to Britain and France, after which it was forced to buy large volumes of the drug and concede parts of its territory to colonial Western powers.
Beijing has pushed back against US fentanyl concerns, saying Washington has to solve the issue itself rather than taking aim at other countries with levies.
Rather than the drugs being supplied directly to the US, a Congressional Research Service report noted last year that US-bound fentanyl appears to be made in Mexico using chemical precursors from China.
While some precursors face international controls, others may be made and exported legally from countries like China.
On Friday, China's public security ministry said it had placed seven new precursor chemicals on a domestic control list and 24 new precursor chemicals on an export control list.
It said that it had cracked 151 cases of drug-making materials, of which it seized 1,427.4 tonnes in the past year, although without saying if these were related to fentanyl.
In early February, China's foreign ministry warned that fresh tariffs could hurt counternarcotics cooperation.
Both the White House and officials in Beijing appear to be preparing for another four years of bruising trade tension.
State media said top Chinese Communist Party officials met on Friday and vowed to take steps to prevent and resolve any external shocks to China's economy.
The Politburo meeting comes a week after the White House released an America First investment memorandum which placed China on a list of "foreign adversaries".
It also accused Beijing of seeking to exploit investments in US firms to steal cutting-edge technology and fund military development.
This month, Trump nominated China hawk Landon Heid to a key commerce department post overseeing the design of AI chip export controls targeting China and other countries.
