China's Foreign Ministry and the Chinese embassy have both said they are 'ready to fight till the end' after Donald Trump doubled the tariff on all Chinese imports from 10 percent to 20 percent.
After initially implementing the 10 percent tariff against China in early February, Trump increased the tariffs on March 4, on the same day he brought in 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada.
The POTUS has said his tariffs are intended to 'combat the extraordinary threat to U.S. national security, including our public health posed by unchecked drug trafficking', but China quickly hit back this week by adding 10-15 percent tariffs on certain agriculture imports from the US.
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The 15 percent tariffs impact popular products such as chicken, wheat, corn, and cotton imports from the US, while the 10 percent tariffs impact the likes of pork, beef, aquatic products, fruits, vegetables, and dairy products.
Other moves targeting the US include stopping lumber imports and suspending US permits to export soybeans to the country.
Alfredo Montufar-Helu, head of the China Center for the Conference Board, said the tariffs it had imposed off the back of Trump's action were a 'restrained, targeted approach aimed at causing pain to those industries that matter the most to the supporters of the Trump administration'.
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Now, the Chinese embassy has doubled down as it shared a statement on Twitter suggesting it was ready for 'war'.
The post read: "If war is what the U.S. wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end."
The tweet echoes comments made by Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, on March 4, when he said China would 'fight till the end' if the US insisted on 'waging a tariff war, trade war or any other kind of war'.
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Jian continued: “I want to reiterate that the Chinese people have never feared evil or ghosts, nor have we ever bowed to hegemony or bullying. Pressure, coercion and threats are not the right ways to engage with China. Trying to exert maximum pressure on China is a miscalculation and a mistake."
China has now set itself an economic growth target of 'around five percent' for this year, which it hopes to meet by making domestic demand the 'main engine and anchor' of its growth.
The country has previously leaned on exports to help meet its five percent target.
Topics: China, Donald Trump, Politics, US News
Emily Brown