China
Says It Will ‘Fight to the End’ After Trump Threatens More Tariffs
The
country’s commerce ministry called President Trump’s threat to escalate tariffs
on China by another 50 percent “blackmail.”
David
Pierson
By David
Pierson
Reporting
from Hong Kong
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/world/asia/china-trump-tariffs.html
April 7,
2025
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China lashed
out at the United States on Tuesday after President Trump demanded that Beijing
rescind its retaliatory tariffs or face an additional 50 percent U.S. levy,
calling his threat “blackmail,” as tensions between the two major powers rose.
The Ministry
of Commerce, without referring to the American president by name, said that
Beijing had noted that the United States had threatened to impose a further 50
percent tariff on China. It said that Beijing would take countermeasures to
safeguard its interests.
“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 United States,” the ministry’s statement said. “China
will never accept it. If the United States insists on its own way, China will
fight to the end.”
China had
announced last week that it would match Mr. Trump’s tariffs by imposing a
retaliatory 34 percent tax on imports from America. The latest escalation that
Mr. Trump described on Monday, if imposed, could bring the U.S. tariff on
Chinese goods to 104 percent. For some products, though, the rate is likely to
be much higher because of levies that date back to Mr. Trump’s first term. Mr.
Trump also threatened to halt any further negotiations.
American
consumers last year bought $440 billion of goods from China, making it the
second-largest source of U.S. imports after Mexico. Taken together, it could
prove costly for American importers bringing in clothing, cellphones, chemicals
and machinery from China.
China said
that the United States should cancel all unilateral tariffs against China,
“stop suppressing China’s economy and trade, and properly resolve differences
with China through equal dialogue on the basis of mutual respect.”
China has
been trying for months to engage in high-level talks with the Trump
administration to try to lay the ground for a potential summit between Mr.
Trump and China’s top leader, Xi Jinping. But despite Mr. Trump saying earlier
this year that he was open to engaging with Mr. Xi, Beijing has struggled to
receive much of a response from the White House.
David
Pierson covers Chinese foreign policy and China’s economic and cultural
engagement with the world. He has been a journalist for more than two decades.
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