China says no one can win a trade war after Trump threatened tariffs

Neither the United States nor China would win a trade war, the Chinese embassy in Washington said on Monday, after US President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose an additional 10 percent tariff on all Chinese imports if he takes power on January 20 comes.

“Regarding the issue of US tariffs on China, China believes that economic and trade cooperation between China and the US is mutually beneficial in nature,” Chinese embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu said in a statement. “No one will win a trade war or a tariff war.”

Trump on Monday promised high tariffs on the US’s three biggest trading partners – Canada, Mexico and China – detailing how he will implement campaign promises that could spark trade wars.

Trump, who takes office on January 20, said he would impose “an additional 10 percent tariff, on top of any additional tariffs” on imports from China until China stops the flow of illegal drugs, especially fentanyl, into the US.

China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that China is willing to continue anti-drug cooperation with the US on the basis of “equality, mutual benefit and mutual respect.”

“The US side should cherish China’s goodwill and safeguard the hard-won healthy situation of Sino-US counter-narcotics cooperation,” the ministry said.

In his statement, Liu said China has taken steps to combat drug trafficking after an agreement reached between President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping last year.

“The Chinese side has informed the US side of the progress made in US anti-narcotics law enforcement operations,” Liu said.

“All this proves that the idea that China is knowingly allowing fentanyl precursors to flow into the United States is completely at odds with the facts and reality.”

There has been incremental but visible progress in cooperation to stop the illicit trade of chemicals used to produce the deadly fentanyl, after Xi and Biden agreed last year to resume their joint efforts.

In June, China’s top prosecutor urged its law enforcement officials to focus on combating drug trafficking as the two countries unveiled a joint investigation.

In August, days after a meeting of a joint working group on counter-narcotics, China said it would tighten controls on three chemicals key to fentanyl production.

Vice President Han Zheng said at a supply chain expo in Beijing yesterday that China is willing to work with other countries to build an open global economic system and ensure the stability of global industrial and supply chain chains. to enforce.

In a separate post, Trump said he would impose a 25 percent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico until they restrict drugs, especially fentanyl, and migrants crossing the border, a move that appears to violate a free trade agreement.

The two posts on Truth Social represent some of Trump’s most specific comments on how he will implement his economic agenda since winning the Nov. 5 election, with promises to “put America first.”

“On January 20, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25 percent tariff on ALL products entering the United States, and the ridiculous open borders,” said Trump.

In 2023, the US accounted for more than 83 percent of exports from Mexico and 75 percent of Canadian exports.

The tariffs could also spell trouble for foreign companies, such as the many Asian auto and electronics manufacturers that use Mexico as a cheap manufacturing gateway for the U.S. market.

Trump’s threatened new tariffs appear to violate the terms of the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal. The deal that Trump signed into law took effect in 2020 and continued largely duty-free trade between the three countries.

Canada and the US at one point imposed sanctions on each other’s products during the rancorous talks that eventually led to USMCA. Trump will have the chance to renegotiate the deal in 2026, when a sunset provision will either force a withdrawal or force talks on changes to the pact.

Economists say Trump’s blanket tariff plans, probably his most consequential economic policy, would return U.S. tariffs to 1930s levels, fuel inflation, collapse U.S.-China trade, trigger retaliation and would drastically rearrange supply chains.