BEIJING: China’s Commerce Ministry on Friday voiced firm opposition to the U.S. threat to impose another 10 percent tariff on goods imported from China starting March 4, and vowed to take “necessary countermeasures” to safeguard China’s legitimate rights and interests.
“China has repeatedly stressed that unilateral tariffs violate World Trade Organization rules and damage the multilateral trading system. China firmly opposes the U.S.’ move,” a spokesperson for China’s Commerce Ministry said.
The U.S. cited the so-called fentanyl issue as an excuse for the latest tariff threat.
China has some of the strictest and most rigorously enforced anti-drug policies in the world and actively engages in international anti-drug cooperation with countries around the world, including the U.S., the spokesperson said.
However, the U.S. has consistently ignored objective facts, the spokesperson added, noting that it imposed a 10 percent tariff on goods imported from China citing fentanyl and other reasons, and now it is threatening to impose additional tariffs.
China hopes the U.S. will not continue down the wrong path and will quickly return to the correct track of resolving differences through equal dialogue, the spokesperson said.
If the U.S. persists in its actions, China will take all necessary countermeasures to defend its legitimate rights and interests, the spokesperson added.
The country’s foreign ministry also denounced such actions from Washington.
China has repeatedly stated that there is no winner in a trade war or a tariff war, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a regular news briefing on Friday, adding that the U.S. unilateral tariff hikes severely violate World Trade Organization rules and harm the interests of the two countries and the whole world.
