Chinese flag with ships and machinery in the background. Photo: X/@nii_gma.
In an official statement, the Chinese government classified as an “error” of an “extortionate nature” the threats by US President Donald Trump to impose additional tariffs of 50% on China starting this Wednesday if the Asian country does not back down on imposing 34% tariffs on US products.
“The US threat to raise tariffs against China is a new mistake, and once again exposes its extortionate nature, and China will never accept it,” the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a statement issued on Tuesday, April 8.
Trump said China has until noon on Tuesday to backtrack on its decision to impose 34% tariffs on US goods in response to Trump’s “tariff spree.” The measure was announced by China late last week in response to the US president’s announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs, which added 34% in duties (on top of the 20% existing tariffs) to Chinese goods.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said that if the United States escalates tariff measures, China will decisively adopt more “countermeasures to protect its rights and interests.”
“If the United States insists on acting arbitrarily, China will fight to the end,” the statement said, calling Trump’s “tariff hike” a practice of “unilateralism and intimidation.”
The ministry urged the US to “repeal all unilateral tariff measures against China, stop economic and trade repression, and resolve differences with China through equal dialogue on the basis of mutual respect.”
“Pressure and threats are not the right way to deal with China,” the text concluded.
From suspending poultry imports to banning Hollywood movies: More possible countermeasures from China
Six possible countermeasures were released by the Chinese social media account Niu Tanqin, which belongs to the deputy editor-in-chief of Xinhua News Agency, Liu Hong. The account has millions of followers across social media and often disseminates information not published in official media, based on unspecified sources. The six possible new countermeasures could be:
- Significantly increase tariffs on US agricultural products such as soybeans and sorghum.
- Ban the import of US poultry meat into China.
- Suspend China-US cooperation on fentanyl.
- Countermeasures in the services trade sector.
- Banon Hollywood movies.
- Launch an investigation into the benefits that US companies have gained from intellectual property in China.
Some of these measures will intensify China’s responses to Trump’s measures. Trump has already implemented three tariff measures against China since the beginning of the year: 10% on all Chinese products, announced on February 1, another 10% on March 3, and another 34% on April 2, as part of the “reciprocal tariffs” announced for around 90 countries.
With each announcement, the Chinese government announced retaliatory measures. For example, in response to the second wave, China implemented, among other measures, a 15% tariff on US chicken, wheat, corn, and cotton.
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US vice president attacks China
In an interview with the US channel Fox News last Friday, April 4, US Vice President JD Vance defended the US tariff policy by attacking China. One of his statements went viral and was heavily criticized on Western and Chinese social media.
He said the “globalist” economy had caused the US to take on “a huge amount of debt to buy things that other countries make for us.”
“To make it a little clearer, we borrow money from Chinese rednecks to buy the things those Chinese rednecks make,” Vance said in an attack on the Chinese.
In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said it was “surprising and regrettable that the vice president would make such ignorant and impolite remarks.”
Regarding possible negotiations between the two countries, Lin Jian said that “what the US has done does not show any intention of serious talks. If the US really wants to have talks, it should show an attitude of equality, respect, and reciprocity.”
