Washington (TDI): China’s necessary countermeasures against the US’ imposition of a 10% additional tariff on Chinese imports under the pretext of the fentanyl issue are fully justified and reasonable, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the US said on Tuesday, while urging Washington to address its fentanyl crisis rationally rather than resorting to arbitrary tariff increases.
The spokesperson made the remarks in response to a question regarding the Customs Tariff Commission of China’s State Council’s notice on Tuesday on levying additional tariffs on certain imported goods originating from the US, and Beijing’s filing of a complaint at the WTO against the 10% tariff imposed by the US on Chinese products.
“China has taken necessary counter steps in accordance with relevant rules and the basic principles of international law, which are completely reasonable. Meanwhile, Beijing has filed a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization (WTO) to firmly protect its legitimate rights and interests,” the spokesperson said.
Regarding the fentanyl issue cited by Washington in its decision to impose additional tariff, the spokesperson said that China is one of the world’s toughest nations on counternarcotics both in terms of policy and its implementation, while stating that fentanyl is an issue for the United States.
In the spirit of humanity and goodwill, China has given support to the US’ response to this issue. At the US’ request, it announced back in 2019 the decision to officially schedule fentanyl-related substances as a class, and it is the first the nation in the world to do so, the spokesperson added.
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In recent years, China and the US have carried out extensive, practical collaboration in the field of drug control, and made a lot of visual progress in the areas of substance control, information exchange, online advertisement cleanup, case cooperation, drug detection technology exchange, and multilateral interactions, the spokesperson said.
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The spokesperson urged US to view and solve its own fentanyl issue in an objective and rational way, cherish Beijing’s goodwill, instead of threatening other nations with arbitrary tariff hikes.
