China has voiced strong opposition to the U.S. announcement of “reciprocal tariffs” on imports, including those from China.
The Chinese Embassy in the United States released a statement on Thursday condemning the U.S. move, stating it “gravely violates World Trade Organization (WTO) rules and undermines the rules-based multilateral trading system.”
“The U.S. claims that it has suffered losses in international trade and is using so-called reciprocity as a justification to raise tariffs on all its trading partners,” the statement read. “This approach disregards the balance of interests achieved through years of multilateral trade negotiations and ignores the fact that the U.S. has long reaped substantial benefits from international trade.”
The embassy described the U.S. actions as “a typical act of unilateral bullying” and urged the U.S. to “stop doing the wrong thing” and resolve trade differences through consultation based on equality, respect, and mutual benefit.
Meanwhile, Chinese Ambassador to the UK Zheng Zeguang echoed these sentiments during a ceremony in London celebrating China’s issuance of its first RMB-denominated sovereign green bond. He stated that “using tariffs as a weapon seriously violates WTO rules, severely undermines the multilateral trading system, and causes great harm to the interests of all parties.”
“Under the current circumstances, the international community should work more closely to reject the U.S. unilateral, protectionist, and trade bullying practices and keep the global trading system stable,” Zheng added. He emphasized that China is firmly against the U.S. planned tariff hikes and will take resolute countermeasures to defend its interests.
