China announced Friday that it would raise tariffs on U.S. imports to 125 per cent in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s 145 per cent import taxes on Chinese goods.
In a statement on Friday, the Chinese finance ministry dismissed Trump’s tariff strategy as “a joke” and condemned it as “unilateral bullying”.
The ministry criticised the U.S. for violating international trade norms and undermining global economic principles.
“Even if the U.S. continues to impose even higher tariffs, it would no longer have any economic significance and would go down as a joke in the history of world economics,” the statement said.
China noted that this would be its final retaliatory tariff response to the U.S.
Earlier this week, China imposed restrictions on Hollywood film imports, warned its citizens about travel to the U.S., and issued a study alert specifically targeting the U.S. state of Ohio.
According to UBS analysts, China’s decision to step back from further tariff escalation is an acknowledgement that their trade relationship is now virtually non-existent, as both countries are currently taxing over 100 per cent of each other’s goods.
The Peterson Institute for International Economics reports that average U.S. tariffs on Chinese exports now stand at 135 per cent, more than 40 times higher than they were before the first U.S.-China trade war in 2018.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, in his first comments since the tariff war began, called for closer cooperation with the European Union (EU), stating that Beijing and Brussels should “jointly oppose unilateral acts of bullying”.
Xi is set to visit Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia next week to strengthen regional alliances amid soaring ties with the U.S.
China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao has also been actively engaging with international partners, holding talks with officials from the EU, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa for support from key global blocs, including the G20 and BRICS nations.
Talks between China and the EU have already yielded some movement.
On Thursday, both sides agreed to resume negotiations on trade relief and electric vehicle pricing, raising hopes for a truce in their long-running dispute.
China’s Commerce Ministry emphasised that Beijing remains open to dialogue with the U.S. but warned that intimidation and pressure would not yield results.
“Threatening China is not the way to achieve meaningful negotiations,” the ministry said.
Tariffs: China Mocks Trump’s Strategy, Turns To EU For Relief is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
Source: The Whistler
