China threatens the countermeasures to fight Trump’s tariffs

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Beijing has attacked new rates of 10 percent imposed by the United States in Chinese exports, saying that “it will take the necessary contraramedes to defend their rights and interests” as commercial tensions between the two powers enter a new phase.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Sunday that China opposed tariffs, which he said were introduced “under the pretext of the fentanyl problem.”

“The United States needs to see and solve its own fentanyl problem objectively and rationally instead of threatening other countries with arbitrary tariff increases,” MFA said.

The China Ministry of Commerce said it would file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization.

The additional taxes of 10 percent are found together with new rates of 25 percent on the exports of Canada and Mexico, since President Trump embarks on an expanded commercial war, after a variety of measures imposed on China by the states United during his first term.

Trump said the influx of “illegal foreigners” and drugs, including opioid fentanyl, had created a “national emergency” that justified tariffs.

During last year’s election campaign, he had warned of tariffs up to 60 percent against China, but subsequently indicated a 10 percent rate. He has linked the levies with the country’s role in the flow of ingredients or “precursors” for fentanyl.

China agreed to take action to stop the flow of precursors at a summit between President Xi Jinping and then President Joe Biden in San Francisco in November 2023. Since then, Beijing has taken some measures that were welcomed by the Biden administration, but the Critics, but critics, including some in the outgoing administration, wanted China to do much more.

Although widely expected, the measures raise a significant challenge for the Government of Xi Jinping at a time when the weaknesses in domestic demand have made it particularly dependent on exports for economic growth. Last year, China’s commercial surplus reached a record about $ 1TN.

Tao Wang, Chinese chief economist at UBS Investment Bank, said the tariffs had been imposed faster than expected and that the 10 percent rate of the blanket was more expansive than gradual measures under the first Trump administration.

“This is broader and probably much larger than the first round,” he said, adding that many expected Trump to add more rates once their officials completed a review of the commercial policy in April.

Wang said he was waiting for a blow to China’s GDP from 0.3 to 0.4 percent.

In a report published last week, Morningstar said that 10 percent tariffs would affect appliances, home furniture, lithium batteries and electric vehicles in China. But he added that many companies “would probably see an impact of less than 5 percent of their respective total income” and that “may not be as bad as they are afraid of some industries.”

Beijing also faces commercial tensions with the EU on the rates imposed in its electric vehicles last summer, which has led to a wave of countermeasures in products, from cognac to dairy.