Both the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Commerce Ministry responded firmly today that “China’s response will continue to the end,” if U.S. President Donald Trump persists in increasing U.S. tariffs on imports of Chinese goods even further, as he threatened on April 7, should China not remove the reciprocal tariff it had imposed on U.S. imports, in response to Trump’s initial 34% tariff on Chinese goods imported into the U.S.
“We will not let anyone take away the Chinese people’s legitimate right to development. We will not tolerate any attempt to harm China’s sovereignty, security and development interests. We will continue to take resolute and strong measures to safeguard our legitimate rights and interests,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian stated at his press briefing today. “If the U.S. truly wants to talk, it should let people see that they’re ready to treat others with equality, respect and mutual benefit.”
Beijing’s Commerce Ministry today issued a statement, calling President Trump’s threat to increase tariffs by 50% on China unless China backs down, “a typical unilateral bullying practice…. The U.S. threat to escalate tariffs on China is a mistake on top of a mistake, which once again exposes the blackmail nature of the U.S.. China will never accept it. If the U.S. insists on its own way, China will fight to the end” to safeguard its rights and interests, it asserted (as rendered by Google translate).
The White House admitted today that the new 50% tariff would bring combined U.S. tariffs against Chinese goods up to 104%.
