Beijing (AFP) – China vowed Tuesday to “fight to the end” after US President Donald Trump threatened to further ramp up tariffs, but the EU warned against escalating a trade war as hard-hit global markets steadied. Trump has upended the world economy with sweeping tariffs that have raised the spectre of an international recession, but has ruled out any pause in his aggressive trade policy despite a dramatic market sell-off.
Beijing — Washington’s major economic rival but also a key trading partner — responded by announcing its own 34 percent duties on US goods to come into effect on Thursday, deepening a showdown between the world’s two largest economies. The swift retaliation from China sparked a fresh warning from Trump that he would impose additional levies of 50 percent if Beijing refused to stop pushing back against his barrage of tariffs — a move that would drive the overall duties on Chinese goods to 104 percent.
“I have great respect for China but they cannot do this,” Trump said at the White House. “We are going to have one shot at this…I’ll tell you what, it is an honour to do it.” China swiftly hit back, blasting what it called “blackmailing” by the United States and vowing “countermeasures” if Washington imposes tariffs on top of the 34 percent extra that were due to come in force on Wednesday. “If the US insists on going its own way, China will fight it to the end,” a spokesperson for Beijing’s commerce ministry said on Tuesday.
In a mounting war of words between Beijing and Washington, China’s foreign ministry also condemned “ignorant and impolite” remarks by US Vice President JD Vance in which he complained that the United States had for too long borrowed money from “Chinese peasants”. The ministry said that “pressure, threats and blackmail are not the right way to deal with China”.
The European Union sought to cool tensions, with the bloc’s chief Ursula von der Leyen warning against worsening the trade conflict in a call with Chinese Premier Li Qiang. She stressed the “vital importance of stability” for the world’s economy, urged a “negotiated solution”, and emphasised “the need to avoid further escalation,” according to a readout from EU officials.
The bloc said Tuesday that it expects to present as soon as next week its response to the 20-percent levies it is facing under Trump’s latest tariff wave, with Germany and France advocating a tax targeting US tech giants. But Brussels has also proposed an exemption from tariffs on industrial products, including cars, which Trump said Monday was not enough to resolve the US trade deficit with the EU. “The European Union has been very, very bad to us,” Trump said.
In retaliation for US levies introduced in mid-March on steel and aluminium, the EU plans tariffs of up to 25 percent on US goods ranging from soybeans to motorcycles and make-up, according to a document seen by AFP. However, US bourbon was spared after Trump threatened to hit European alcoholic drinks with massive retaliatory duties. A 10 percent “baseline” tariff on US imports from around the world took effect Saturday, and a slew of countries will be hit by higher duties from Wednesday, including China and EU nations.
Trump’s tariffs have roiled global markets, with trillions of dollars wiped off combined stock market valuations in recent sessions. Stock markets staged a mild rebound on Tuesday, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rising 1.5 percent after crashing 13.2 percent the previous day in its worst performance since 1997. Shares in Tokyo leapt after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested that Japan would get “priority” in negotiations as they had sought talks quickly.
European markets also clawed back some ground, with London, Paris, and Frankfurt all up more than two percent in afternoon trade while oil prices edged higher. Trump believes the tariffs will revive America’s lost manufacturing base by forcing foreign companies to relocate to the United States, rather than making goods abroad. But most economists question that and say his tariffs are arbitrary.
Despite the turmoil, Trump said Monday he was “not looking” at any pause in tariff implementation. He also scrapped any meetings with China but said Washington was ready for talks with any country willing to negotiate. More than 50 nations have sought to reach out to the US leader, according to the White House. While meeting Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the first leader to lobby Trump in person over the levies, Trump said: “There can be permanent tariffs, and there can also be negotiations, because there are things that we need beyond tariffs.”
© 2024 AFP
