Trump threatens 10% additional tariffs... China: "All necessary countermeasures"

China warned of retaliatory measures on the 28th after U.S. President Donald Trump announced he would impose an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods.

According to China's Jiemian News, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in response to reporters' questions about Trump's tariff threat, "If the U.S. proceeds with its stubborn actions, China will take all necessary countermeasures to defend its legitimate rights and interests."

The spokesperson added, "The Chinese side is monitoring the situation and has repeatedly stated that unilateral tariffs violate World Trade Organization (WTO) rules and undermine the multilateral trading system. China firmly opposes this."

Regarding the synthetic drug (fentanyl) issue that Trump cited as justification for the tariffs, the spokesperson claimed, "China is one of the countries with the strictest anti-drug policies and most thorough enforcement in the world."

Earlier, U.S. President Trump announced on the 27th that he would impose an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods starting from the 4th of next month (local time).

Chinese products exported to the U.S. were subject to an average tariff rate of about 25% until early this year. After imposing an additional universal 10% tariff on the 4th of this month, Trump has now announced he will add another 10%.

He attached the condition that the tariffs would remain until the synthetic drug problem flowing into the United States is resolved or significantly improved.

Soo-jin Choi, Hankyung.com reporter naive@hankyung.com