China Strongly Opposes Trump's '50% Additional Tariff'... 'Retaliatory Measures to Protect Interests'

Ministry of Commerce: "China's Retaliation Justified... Tariff Increase Threat is Blackmail"

Chinese State Media Releases '6 Countermeasures' List

The Chinese government strongly opposed U.S. President Donald Trump's warning of imposing an additional 50% tariff on China and urged resolution through dialogue.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce stated in a statement posted on its website, "China has taken note of the U.S. threat to impose an additional 50% tariff on China and firmly opposes it," adding, "If the U.S. implements the escalated tariff measures, China will take firm retaliatory measures to protect its interests," on the 8th.

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce claimed, "The so-called 'reciprocal tariffs' imposed by the U.S. on China are completely unfounded and a typical act of unilateral bullying," adding, "China's retaliatory measures are entirely justified to protect its sovereignty, security, development interests, and the normal international trade order."

Furthermore, "The U.S. threat to raise tariffs on China is adding mistake to mistake and reveals the essence of U.S. blackmail, which China can never accept," the spokesperson said, adding, "If the U.S. insists on its way, China will definitely confront it to the end."

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce added, "Pressure and threats are not the right way to associate with China," urging the U.S. to "immediately correct its wrong approach, abolish all unilateral tariff measures against China, stop economic and trade oppression, and properly resolve differences through equal dialogue based on mutual respect with China."

President Trump, in a post on the social network service (SNS) Truth Social the previous day, addressed China's announcement of retaliatory tariffs at the same rate (34%) against the U.S.'s reciprocal tariffs, stating, "If China does not withdraw the 34% tariff by the 8th, the U.S. will impose an additional 50% tariff on China. It will take effect from the 9th."

He stated that if China does not accept his demands, all dialogues requested by China with the U.S. will be canceled, and negotiations will begin with countries other than China that are subject to reciprocal tariffs.

Previously, President Trump imposed an additional 10% universal tariff on Chinese imports in February and March, and from the 9th, a 34% reciprocal tariff will be imposed.

China, in response to the previous '10+10%' tariff increase, targeted specific U.S. products with retaliatory tariffs, but with the announcement of the 34% reciprocal tariff, it raised tariffs on all U.S. imports by the same 34%, escalating the level of response.

Meanwhile, the Chinese state-run Xinhua News Agency's SNS account 'New Tanqin' released a list of China's '6 countermeasures' against the U.S.'s 50% additional tariff increase in the form of citing sources.

This includes a significant increase in tariffs on U.S. agricultural products such as soybeans and sorghum, a ban on poultry imports, an investigation into intellectual property rights targeting U.S. companies with monopolistic positions in China, and a reduction or ban on U.S. film imports.

Reporter Park Surim, Hankyung.com paksr365@hankyung.com