April 8 (UPI) — Beijing will retaliate if President Donald Trump makes good on his threat to impose a further 50% tariff on Chinese exports, the Asian nation’s commerce ministry said Tuesday.
“If the United States upgrades tariff measures, China will resolutely take countermeasures to protect its rights and interests,” the ministry said in a statement.
Trump has thrice imposed import tariffs on China since returning to the White House in January, starting with 10% tariffs that took effect Feb. 4, which were increased to 20% the next month. Trump last week then announced an additional 34% tariff as he hit dozens of countries with tariffs.
China retaliated Friday with a 34% increase in tariffs against U.S. imports, prompting the American president on Monday to announce that an additional 50% tariff would go into effect against China on Wednesday — attracting the ire of Beijing.
In its Tuesday statement, China’s Commerce Ministry described the so-called reciprocal tariffs Trump announced last week as “groundless” and “a typical unilateral bullying practice.”
It also defended its 34% countermeasures as needed to protect “its sovereignty, security and development interests,” while “maintaining the normal order of international trade.”
Trump’s threat to impose an additional 50% tariff on China “is a mistake on top of a mistake and once again exposes the coercive nature of U.S. policy,” it said.
“China urges the U.S. to immediately correct its wrongful actions, cancel all unilateral tariff measures against China, stop suppressing China in economic and trade matters and resolve differences through equal dialogue based on mutual respect,” the commerce ministry said.
Trump has used tariffs as both a negotiating tactic to secure more favorable agreements from other countries and a way to try to even out trade deficiencies with trading partners.
The American president announced the latest round of tariffs on China as he hit some 180 countries with what he called “reciprocal” tariffs.
The move has strained relations with allies, deepened competition with adversaries, sparked fears of a global recession, exasperated inflation and led to a decline in U.S. markets.
On Friday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned Trump’s tariffs will cause inflation to grow and growth to slow.