China promises to retaliate as necessary after Trump threatens tariffs

China’s Ministry of Commerce said Friday that “firmly” opposes “the president of the United States Donald TrumpThe last threat of increasing tariffs on Chinese products and promised reprisals, if necessary.

“If the United States insists on its way, China will take all the necessary countermeasures to defend their legitimate rights and interests,” said a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce in a statement, translated by CNBC.

“We urge the American side not to repeat their own mistakes and return as soon as possible to the right path to resolve conflicts properly through dialogue on equal conditions.”

The statement followed Trump’s announcement that the United States Impose an additional 10% tax on Chinese imports on March 4, which coincides with the beginning of China annual parliamentary meetings.

The new tariffs would be aware of the rates more than 10% that Trump raised in China on February 4.

Trump announced that China’s two rounds of homework were imposed in response to the role of the Asian country in the fentanyl trade. The addictive drug, precursors that occur mainly in China and Mexico, has taken tens of thousands of overdose deaths every year in the United States.

“In the short term, China’s response will probably include tariffs on selected imports from USA.

He pointed out that, however, he hopes that Beijing’s reprisals will remain “measures”, as Chinese president Xi Jinping He has an incentive to meet with his American counterpart and initiate negotiations to avoid measures that exert greater pressure on the already slow economic growth.

China exports have been a weird brilliant point in an economy otherwise. The United States is the largest commercial partner in China at a single country.

While Beijing can maintain a “restricted” position, the next movements will probably go to the industries that matter the most for Trump’s supporters, said Alfredo Montufar-Helu, head of the center of China at the Conference Board.

China would prefer to leave some space for new negotiations, since it hopes to avoid even higher import rates and other “corrective” measures of Washington, he said.

After the first round of rates earlier this month, China’s retaliation measures included Raise tariffs of certain energy imports in the United States and put two American companies in a list of unreliable entities that could restrict their ability to do business in the Asian country.

China has also increased controls on critical mineral exports that the United States needs.

“The most acute arrow that China has in its laugh to restrict the access of the United States to critical minerals that cannot easily obtain in another place,” said Stephen Olson, a senior visiting fellow at the Institute of Studies of Southeast Asia and a former American commercial negotiator.

In contrast, the ministry FEBRUARY DECLARATION He urged Washington to handle fentanyl problems “objectively and rationally,” while warning the rates could damage the normal economic and commercial relations of China-United States.

The China Ministry of Foreign Affairs also harden its tone in a response to the rates on Friday. The US law of “pressing, coercing and threatening” China with tariffs will only be counterproductive, said spokesman Lin Jian in Chinese comments informed by state media and translated by CNBC.

Trump’s announcement of additional tariffs “will push China to a position to assume that an agreement may not be possible or cannot be attainable in the short term,” Deborah Elms, head of commerce of the Hinrich Foundation, told CNBC.

“That leaves Beijing with two options: or display the continuous measures responses in the hope of avoiding greater escalation and may even reverse the existing measures; or much larger,” he added, since the “modest measures were not enough and the threat to the future climbing was not taken enough.”