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The Chinese Embassy in the United States warned on Tuesday that it was willing to fight “a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war” until the end after President Donald Trump imposed new tariffs on Chinese imports.
After an additional 10% tariff came into effect on Chinese goods, Tuesday, the Chinese embassy in the U.S. warned, “If war is what the U.S. wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end.”
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also condemned the additional tariffs on Tuesday, accusing the Trump administration of attempting to “blackmail China.”
“The fentanyl issue is a flimsy excuse to raise U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports. Our countermeasures to defend our rights and interests are fully legitimate and necessary,” the ministry protested:
The U.S., not anyone else, is responsible for the #FentanylCrisis inside the U.S. In the spirit of humanity and goodwill towards the American people, we have taken robust steps to assist the U.S. in dealing with the issue. Instead of recognizing our efforts, the U.S. has sought to smear and shift blame to China, and is seeking to pressure and blackmail China with tariff hikes. They’ve been PUNISHING us for helping them. This is not going to solve the U.S.’s problem and will undermine our counternarcotics dialogue and cooperation.
Intimidation does not scare us. Bullying does not work on us. Pressuring, coercion or threats are not the right way of dealing with China. Anyone using maximum pressure on China is picking the wrong guy and miscalculating. If the U.S. truly wants to solve the fentanyl issue, then the right thing to do is to consult with China by treating each other as equals.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, appearing on Fox & Friends Wednesday morning, responded to the China threat to Brian Kilmeade, saying, “We’re prepared.”
Those who long for peace must prepare for war. We are — that’s why we are rebuilding our military. That’s why we are reestablishing deterrence in the warrior ethos, we live in a dangerous world with powerful Asen dent countries with very different ideologies. You mention defense spending. They are rapidly increasing their defense spending. Modern technology they want to supplant the United States. If we want to deter war with the Chinese or others we have to be strong. President understands peace comes through strength. He has a great relationship with that gentleman too XI jinping to where we can partner. Where we can cooperate to recognize that we don’t want war with China. We don’t seek that war. We will and the president has sought historic peace historic opportunity.
Trump previously imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese goods in February and added an additional 10% this week after blaming China for the importation of deadly fentanyl into the United States.
The Trump administration also placed tariffs on Mexico and Canada, which were blamed alongside China for contributing to the country’s fentanyl problem.
