China announced its firm position and unpreparedness to make concessions in a trade dispute with the United States after US President Donald Trump once again raised customs duties on goods imported from the PRC to 125%.
The official representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Lin Jian, at a regular briefing in Beijing, emphasized that Beijing does not intend to succumb to pressure. “If the United States does not take into account the interests of China, as well as its own and the entire international community, and will continue to escalate the trade war, China will answer to the end,” he said.
Lin Jian emphasized the unacceptability of the “hegemonic and despotistical actions” by the United States, noting that “pressure, threats and blackmail is not the way that can be done with China.”
The Representative of the China Foreign Ministry accused the US of putting their “selfish interests” above the global and violate the legal rights of other countries in order to achieve their own hegemonic goals. “We will not be indifferently observed how the Chinese people deprive him of legal rights and interests, and the foundations of international trade and a multilateral trading system are undermined,” Lin Jiang decisively said.
He added that to establish constructive negotiations of the United States, it is necessary to demonstrate an approach based on the principles of equality, respect and mutual benefit.
Note, on April 2, US President Donald Trump announced the introduction of additional 34% of the duties for Chinese goods within the so -called “mutual tariffs”. In response, China took mirror measures by introducing similar import duties from the United States.
However, President Trump said that if China does not cancel its return tariffs, the United States will introduce additional duties of 50% and cancel the planned bilateral negotiations. As a result of these actions, the minimum customs duty of the United States for Chinese goods increased to 104%.
China answered again mirroring, increasing duties on American goods to 84%. After that, Donald Trump announced a new increase in tariffs to 125%, which further exacerbated the already tense trade relations between the two largest economies in the world.