China reiterated on Wednesday its promise to “fight to the end” in an escalating trade war with the United States by announcing that it would increase tariffs on American goods to 84% starting on Thursday.
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Beijing also added a series of countermeasures after US President Donald Trump increased the total tariff on imports from China to 104%.
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“If the United States insists on continuing to escalate its economic and trade restrictions, China has the firm will and abundant means to take necessary countermeasures and fight until the end,” wrote the Ministry of Commerce in a statement presenting its strategic document on trade with the United States.
The government refused to say whether it would negotiate with the White House, as many other countries have begun to do.
Last Friday, China announced a 34% tariff on all goods imported from the United States, export controls on rare earth minerals, and other measures in response to Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs. Trump then added an additional 50% tariff on Chinese products and claimed that negotiations with them were over.
So far, China has shown no interest in negotiating. “If the United States really wants to solve problems through dialogue and negotiation, it should adopt an attitude of equality, respect, and mutual benefit,” said Lin Jian, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Wednesday.
The document states that the United States has not fulfilled the promises it made in the initial trade agreement concluded during Trump’s first term. For example, it mentioned that a US law that would ban TikTok unless it is sold by its Chinese parent company violates a promise that neither party would pressure the other to transfer technology to their own individuals.
Last week, Trump signed an order to keep TikTok operational for another 75 days after a potential deal to sell the app to American owners was put on hold. ByteDance representatives called the White House to indicate that China would no longer approve the deal until there could be negotiations on trade and tariffs.
The document also argued that, considering the trade in services and Chinese branches of American companies, the economic exchange between the two countries is “approximately balanced.”
The text indicates that China had a trade deficit in services with the United States of 26.570 billion dollars in 2023, composed of industries such as insurance, banking, and accounting. Trump’s tariffs were designed to close trade deficits with foreign countries, but the data was calculated based only on exchanges of physical and tangible goods.
“The history and facts have shown that the increase in tariffs by the United States will not solve its own problems,” said the statement from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. “Instead, it will trigger strong fluctuations in financial markets, increase inflationary pressure in the United States, weaken the U.S. industrial base, and increase the risk of an economic recession in the United States, which ultimately will only backfire.”