China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) has stated on its official website that China firmly opposes the move by the US to impose reciprocal tariffs on all trading partners from April 2 and that it will resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard its rights and interests.
The MOC stated that the US claims that it has suffered losses in international trade and so has raised tariffs on all its trading partners on the basis of the so-called “reciprocal” principal, in disregard of the results of the balance of interests reached in multilateral trade negotiations over the years and the fact that the US has long profited substantially from international trade. The US move is not in line with the rules of international trade, which seriously undermines the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of the parties concerned, and is a typical practice of unilateral bullying, the MOC commented.
The ministry went on to state that history has shown that raising tariffs will not solve the problems of the US, and will not only harm the interests of the US itself, but also jeopardize the development of the global economy and the stabilization of the production and supply chain.
The MOC said that China believes that there are no winners in a trade war, and there is no way out of protectionism, and so China urges the US to immediately lift its unilateral tariff measures and to properly resolve its differences with its trading partners through dialogue on an equal footing.