The China Ministry of Commerce urged the United States on Thursday to stop exercising “extreme pressure” in the second largest economy in the world and demanded respect in any commercial conversation, but the two parties rowed at a dead point on who should start those conversations.
The administration of Donald Trump has increased pressure on China by increasing import tariffs on Chinese products in recent months. On Tuesday, the White House published an information sheet that indicates that China now faces a tariff of up to 245 percent.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has criticized rates as irrational and said that Beijing will ignore the set of “meaningless” rates numbers. He also warned that China “will fight until the end” if the United States insists on threatening substantial damage to China’s rights and interests.
“The unilateral rate increases were completely initiated by the United States,” a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, told a weekly press conference.
Unlike several nations that have responded to Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs” when searching for agreements with Washington, Beijing has increased their own levies on US products in response and has not been soy can only a basic respect and in the sense.
Washington said Tuesday that Trump was open to making a commercial agreement with China, but Beijing should make the first movement and that “the ball is in the China court.”
“We urge the United States to immediately stop extreme pressure, coercion and blackmail, and resolve differences with China through the same dialogue on the basis of mutual respect,” said the spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce.
The Ministry of Commerce has maintained communication at work level with its American counterparts, he said, and added that China is open to economic and commercial consultations with the United States.
But “the person who tied the bell must be the one who unleashes it,” he said, using a Chinese prosverb.
Posted on April 17, 2025