Donald Trump‘s choice to go after both allies and enemies has riled up Beijing. After he threatened to increase tariffs on Chinese products imported to the US by 20%, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China said the Asian giant was ready to confront the US “to the end.”
Last Wednesday, a social media post from the Chinese embassy in Washington warned the American administration not to provoke China’s strength.
“If war, whether it is a tariff, trade or any other war, is what the US wants, then we are ready to fight to the end,” said the post.
“If the United States really wants to solve the fentanyl problem, the right thing to do is to consult with China, treating each other as equals,” the embassy said in a post on Platform X.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian echoed this during a briefing, commenting on Trump’s tariff hikes, and assured that China is fully committed to playing this out.
The official reason for the tariffs, which also impact Canada and Mexico, is to deal with illegal fentanyl smuggling. This opioid causes hundreds of thousands of deaths in the US. However, China claims the Trump administration is using the fentanyl crisis to blame them and pressure the country with tariff increases. The Chinese government insists that the real issue lies within the US and that tariffs won’t fix anything. Lin advised the US to drop its intimidation tactics and pivot back to a cooperative dialogue before it’s too late.
After Trump had first announced tariffs on Chinese imports, Beijing retaliated with 15% tariffs on coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG) and 10% on crude oil and agricultural machinery. With the threat of doubling the tariffs, China responded by placing 10% to 15% tariffs on US agri-food products.
