China To ‘Fight Till End’ As Trump Threatens 50% More Tariffs
Tensions are rising again between the U.S. and China over trade.
On Monday, President Donald Trump announced that he would impose a 50% additional tariff on Chinese products entering the U.S. if China doesn’t remove the 34% tariffs it imposed on American goods last week.
China had raised its tariffs in response to Trump’s earlier actions.
Trump recently increased tariffs on Chinese goods by 34%. Now, which followed a 20% increase he imposed on China earlier this year.
If the new 50% threat goes ahead, U.S. tariffs on Chinese products could reach over 100%.
“The threat to escalate is a mistake on top of a mistake,” China’s Ministry of Commerce had said in a statement.
“If the United States insists on having its way, China will fight to the end,” it added.
To handle the pressure, Chinese officials are meeting with big companies like Trina Solar, Didi, and Goertek to figure out how to survive the trade war.
The government is also trying to keep the economy steady by supporting the stock market and pumping money into the system.
Still, the damage is being felt.
The U.S. is China’s biggest customer, purchasing over $400bn worth of Chinese goods every year, reports Reuters.
China’s foreign ministry says they don’t want a fight, but they’re not afraid of one either.
The Chinese people “do not provoke trouble, nor are we afraid of it,” Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, told journalists.
“The Chinese people’s legitimate right to development must not be deprived,” he added.
Dan Wang, a China expert at Eurasia Group, said Trump had effectively already wiped out Chinese exporters’ profits once U.S. import duties passed the 35% mark.
“After that, China shouldn’t export to the U.S. at all. It could be 1,000%, but since there is no trade, there is no harm.”
“Europe is and will be the most profitable market for China now,” she added.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to meet Spain’s Prime Minister soon to discuss trade with Europe.
He’ll also visit Malaysia, Vietnam, and Cambodia, which gained Chinese factories when earlier U.S. tariffs pushed businesses out of China.
China To ‘Fight Till End’ As Trump Threatens 50% More Tariffs is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
