China’s ministry of foreign affairs has promised that China will “fight to the end” with the US in a “tariff war, trade war or any other war”, marking China’s strongest rhetoric on US president Donald Trump since he entered the White House.
On Tuesday, in response to Trump imposing an extra 10% tariff on Chinese goods, taking the cumulative duty to 20%, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said: “Exerting extreme pressure on China is the wrong target and the wrong calculation … If the US has other intentions and insists on a tariff war, trade war or any other war, China will fight to the end. We advise the US to put away its bullying face and return to the right track of dialogue and cooperation as soon as possible.”
The comments about “any other war” were shared on X by the spokesperson for ministry of foreign affairs. The post was then re-posted by the Chinese embassy in the United States. The embassy reiterated the message, writing: “If war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end.”
Asked on Wednesday to clarify what he meant by “any other war”, Lin said: “If the US has other intentions and insists on damaging China’s interests, we will fight to the end. We advise the US to put away its bullying face and return to the right track of dialogue and cooperation as soon as possible.”
China strongly objects to Trump’s attempts to link the tariffs to the flow of fentanyl from China to the US. Lin said that the fentanyl issue was “an excuse” for the US to impose harsh trade measures on China.
China retaliated this week by imposing duties of up to 15% on a range of US agricultural products.
On Wednesday, China’s State Council published a white paper titled: “Controlling Fentanyl-Related Substances – China’s Contribution”. The paper said that “China rigorously meets its international drug control obligations” and that counter-narcotics operations are “a central focus of cooperation between China and the US”. In 2019, China scheduled all forms of fentanyl, making it the only major country to permanently include the drugs on a list of controlled substances. But the White House says that “Chinese officials have failed to take the actions necessary to stem the flow of precursor chemicals” to organised crime groups such as drugs cartels in Mexico.
Lin’s fiery comments come as China is hosting its biggest annual political event, the two sessions. The name refers to parallel meetings of China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress, and a top advisory body. The events are tightly choreographed and normally do not include aggressive “wolf warrior” rhetoric such as Lin’s comments. At the opening ceremony of the NPC, Premier Li Qiang delivered the government’s work report, which said that the world was seeing “changes unseen in a century”.
