China urges US to lift 'reciprocal tariffs', engage in dialogue
China firmly opposes the United States' announcement of "reciprocal tariffs" on all its trading partners and has vowed to take resolute countermeasures to protect its own interests, said the Ministry of Commerce on Thursday.
Facing significant backlash, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (EDT) signed an executive order on the so-called "reciprocal tariffs", imposing a 10-percent "minimum baseline tariff" and higher rates on certain trading partners.
The policy includes tariffs as high as 49 percent on imports from Cambodia, 46 percent from Vietnam, 34 percent from China, 24 percent from Japan and 20 percent from the European Union, according to media reports.
There are no winners in a trade war and protectionism is a dead end. China calls on the US to promptly lift its unilateral tariffs and address differences with trade partners through dialogue and consultation, said a spokesperson from the Ministry of Commerce in an online statement.
The commerce official said that the US claims that it has incurred losses in international trade and is using the notion of "reciprocity" to justify raising tariffs on all its trading partners. However, this approach overlooks the mutually beneficial outcomes established through years of multilateral trade negotiations and disregards the fact that the US has long enjoyed significant gains from global trade.
The imposition of the so-called "reciprocal tariffs" based on unilateral and subjective judgments violate international trade rules, seriously infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of affected parties, and exemplify unilateral bullying. Numerous trading partners have already voiced strong dissatisfaction and firmly opposed the move, said the ministry.
"History has shown that raising tariffs does not resolve US' own issues," said the spokesperson, adding that it harms the US' interests instead and poses risks to global economic growth, as well as the stability of industrial and supply chains.
