Beijing (TDI): China’s Commerce Ministry on Friday voiced firm opposition to the US’ latest threat of imposing another 10% tariff on Chinese imports starting March 4 citing the so-called fentanyl issue as an excuse, and pledged to take “necessary countermeasures” to protect China’s legitimate rights and interests.
US President Donald Trump plans to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting Tuesday while also threatening to double the 10% tariff already imposed on imports from China on the same date, and the country-by-country reciprocal tariffs will also be charged on April 2.
The decision drew widespread opposition from US trading partners.
“China has repeatedly emphasized that unilateral tariffs violate WTO rules and damage multilateral trading system. Beijing firmly opposes Washington’s move,” a spokesperson with China’s Commerce Ministry said, responding to a query on the US threat to impose another 10% tariff on Chinese imports starting March 4.
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China is one of the world’s toughest nations on counternarcotics both in terms of policy and its implementation, and it actively conducts global cooperation with other countries including the US on this matter. However, neglecting the facts, the US previously imposed 10% tariffs on Chinese products citing the fentanyl issue as an excuse and has made the new threat this time, the spokesperson added.
Deflecting the blame to other nations will not help solve the US’ domestic problem, but rather incur more burden on US enterprises and consumers and damage global industrial chain stability, the spokesperson further said.
Read More: China Retaliates with Tariffs on US Goods
China urges the US not to make the same mistake again and again, and instead it should return to the right track of properly resolving the differences through equal talks, and if Washington insists on pushing ahead with the tariffs, Beijing will take all necessary counter steps to protect its legitimate rights and interests, the spokesperson maintained.
