Beijing: China on Friday upped its additional tariff on US goods to 125 per cent, retaliating to America’s 145 per cent levy even as President Xi Jinping urged the European Union to “jointly resist the unilateral bullying” by Washington.
China, however, left the door open for talks between the world’s two top economies as the tariff war between them continued.
China’s Foreign Ministry said any dialogue must be based on “equality and mutual respect”.
Beijing also indicated that if the US hikes its tariffs further, “China will ignore it”.
China’s Customs Tariff Commission said higher tariffs by the US would no longer make any sense and go down as a “joke” in the world’s economic history.
“Given that it’s already impossible for the Chinese market to accept US imports at the current tariff level, if the United States imposes further tariffs on Chinese products, China will ignore it,” it said.
However, should the US persist in substantially undermining China’s interests, Beijing will take firm countermeasures and fight to the end, the Commission added.
As Trump kept hiking tariffs against China while pausing the levies he planned earlier on EU, India and a host of other countries, Xi said China and the 27-member bloc must fulfil their international responsibilities, work together to safeguard economic globalisation and international trading environment, and jointly resist unilateral bullying.
“There is no winner in a tariff war, and going against the world will only result in self-isolation,” Xi said here on Friday during his meeting with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of Spain, which is part of the bloc.
“China and the EU are firm supporters of economic globalisation and free trade,” Xi said.
This not only safeguards the legitimate rights and interests of China and the EU but also serves to maintain fairness and justice within the international community while upholding international rules and order, Xi said.
Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian on Friday said if the US truly wanted to resolve issues through dialogue and negotiation, it must cease its maximum pressure tactics and reckless actions.
Any dialogue must be based on equality, mutual respect and benefit, he told a media briefing here, adding that if the US insisted on escalating tariff wars, China would resolutely respond to the challenge all the way.
“In the face of US hegemony and coercion, compromise and concession are not viable options,” Lin added.
As Trump seeks to isolate China, Beijing has also started a diplomatic campaign outreach to galvanise global opinion against America’s unilateral sanctions.
Xi is next week setting out on a visit to Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia, the key ASEAN countries badly hit by Trump’s tariffs.
Separately, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday held a meeting of the country’s envoys in different countries outlining Beijing’s diplomatic priorities in the light of the US tariff war against China.
Wang, who is a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, also met Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) when he said that the US cannot act recklessly and the wheels of history cannot be reversed.
Wang also reiterated Xi’s call for jointly resisting US’ unilateral bullying.
The involvement of a certain major country in unilateral bullying is one of the key factors contributing to the current international landscape marked by turbulence and chaos, state-run news agency Xinhua said, quoting him.
“Given that the United States is wielding the tariff stick recently, it is blatantly putting its own interests above the common interests of all countries and ignoring the multilateral trading system and established rules,” Wang added, noting that the international community should not sit by.
Wang said that China, as a responsible member of the international community, stands firm not only to defend its legitimate rights and interests but also to safeguard the common interests of the international community to ensure that humanity is not dragged back into a jungle world where might makes right.
China is willing to take the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations (UN) as an opportunity to firmly uphold the international system with UN at its core and the international order based on international law, and work together with other countries to jointly resist all retrogressive actions in the world, Xinhua added quoting Wang.
