‘Bullying’: China hits back at Trump’s new tariffs with its own

Tuesday, 4 March 2025

Donald Trump announces 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, stating there's no room for last-minute deals. He urges car manufacturers to build in the US to avoid tariffs.

China has slapped additional duties of 10 to 15% on American chicken, corn, soybeans, pork, dairy, and other agricultural products, firing back at US President Donald Trump’s latest salvo in his tariff war.

Beijing retaliated within minutes of the US enacting double duties on Chinese imports to 20% on Tuesday, just as China kicks off its most important political and economic event of the year.

Ahead of its response, China’s Commerce Ministry slammed Trump’s tariffs as “bullying” and accused Washington of having “shifted the blame” for its fentanyl crisis to Beijing.

“China deplores and firmly opposes this, and will take counter-measures to firmly safeguard its rights and interest,” a ministry spokesman said.

Beijing also added another 15 American companies to its export blacklist.

The response closely follows the formula Beijing applied last month to Trump’s initial 10% across-the-board tariff on Chinese goods, and is more moderate by comparison, targeting specific industries rather than all US imports.

US President Donald Trump’s long-threatened tariffs against Canada, China and Mexico have finally gone into effect.

Trump has blamed China’s role in the fentanyl crisis ravaging America as justification for the tariffs, and has hit Canada and Mexico with 25% duties for the same reason.

The Canadian government late Monday announced it will proceed with a sweeping package of counter-tariffs against US-made products. The first stage is 25% tariffs on about C$30 billion worth of goods from US exporters to go into effect at the same time as the US levies. A second round of tariffs at the same rate will be placed on C$125 billion of products in three weeks — a list that will include big-ticket items like cars, trucks, steel and aluminum.

Canada said it would retaliate with 25% tariffs on C$155 billion ($172 billion) worth of US products including big-ticket items like cars, trucks, steel and aluminum, with the first tariffs to be introduced immediately on goods worth C$30 billion. Mexico said it would respond in the next 24 hours.

But by swinging the tariff cudgel, Trump is taking aim at the engine driver of China’s economy and its status as the world’s largest exporter, which saw it achieve a record $US1 trillion trade surplus last year.

China’s export sector has been the saving grace in the country’s otherwise sputtering economy, which is being dragged down by the long hangover of its property market collapse, high youth unemployment and an ageing population.

The brewing trade feud has ratcheted tensions between Beijing and Washington on the eve of China’s top legislative body meeting to sign off on leader Xi Jinping’s priorities for the year ahead.

With Xi confronting mounting economic challenges and geopolitical uncertainty fuelled by an unpredictable White House, political officials and experts around the world will be closely watching for any policy shifts as China’s rubber-stamp parliament begins sitting on Wednesday.

Thousands of political cadres will descend on Beijing’s Great Hall of the People for the opening of the National People’s Congress, which will sit for a week to sign off on bills already approved by the Communist Party leadership.

The centrepiece of this highly scripted affair will be Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s delivery of the government work report, which will lay out the country’s economic blueprint for 2025.

Many seasoned China watchers expect the report to double down on Xi’s long-term economic strategy of “Chinese-style modernisation”, which puts the state at the centre of industrial development and prioritises advancing high-tech industries while reducing Chinese supply chains’ reliance on Western technology.

It is also expected to affirm China’s pursuit of global dominance in the artificial intelligence sector, which is critical for economic and military supremacy.

“AI is seen as something that can transform the real economy, as something that can provide benefits in a possible conflict with the US,” said Antonia Hmaidi, a senior analyst with Mercator Institute for China Studies.

The report is expected to set a bullish target of 5% GDP growth for 2025, unchanged from previous years, despite clear signs the economy is under significant strain and scepticism among Western experts about the government’s claims that it achieved the target last year.

It is also expected to emphasise China’s pursuit of global dominance in artificial intelligence as a key strategic goal.