China Vows Countermeasures Against US New Tariffs

China, on Friday, vowed to take necessary countermeasures, after United States President, Donald Trump, said he would impose an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports,a decision Beijing warned would seriously impact dialogue.

Trump’s latest move will come into effect on Tuesday alongside sweeping 25 percent levies on Canadian and Mexican imports, intensifying a brewing trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

The 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports will come on top of an existing levy of the same rate imposed by Trump on China earlier this month.

Trump had announced, then later halted a sweeping 25 percent levies on Canadian and Mexican imports this month over illegal immigration with Canadian energy expected to face a lower rate.

Following reporters’ questions on whether he planned to proceed on the tariffs next week, Trump wrote on social media Thursday that until the problem of fentanyl stops “or is seriously limited”, the proposed levies will happen as scheduled.

“China will likewise be charged an additional 10 percent Tariff on that date,” he added, referring to March 4.

In response to Trump’s allegations that Beijing is contributing to the fentanyl crisis in the United States, a spokesperson for China’s commerce ministry said Friday that Washington was “shifting the blame”.

“China is one of the countries with the strictest and most thorough anti-narcotics policy in the world,” the statement read. “But the US side has always ignored these facts,” it said.

“If the US side insists on going its own way, the Chinese side will take all necessary countermeasures to defend its legitimate rights and interests,” it said.

The statement also said that the tariff hike “is not conducive to solving (the United States’) own problems”, adding that it would “increase the burden on American companies and consumers, and undermine the stability of the global industrial chain”.

Shortly after the statement was published, China’s foreign ministry warned that the new tariffs would “seriously impact dialogue” between the two countries on narcotics control, accusing Washington of “blackmail”.

“Pressure, coercion and threats are not the correct way to deal with China. Mutual respect is the basic premise,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a daily press conference.