Chinese firms are on edge and so are some of their US partners. Markets are relatively muted, though the yuan is down.
Post-election, Donald Trump is amplifying his threats to slap higher tariffs on imports into the US — and China is unsettled.
On Monday, the president-elect took aim at Canada, Mexico, and China on his Truth Social platform, saying he was planning sweeping tariffs on imports from the three countries.
In particular, Trump doubled down on China, saying he’d sign an executive order on his first day in office to impose an additional 10% tariff on imports from China.
The tariffs, Trump said, are because China is to blame for “the massive amounts of drugs, in particular Fentanyl, being sent into the United States.”Beijing hits back
China has already been the target of Trump’s tariff threats in his campaign trail. The presidential-elect previously said he planned to impose 60% tariffs on Chinese goods, so his Monday post against the East Asian nation elicited a familiar response.
“China’s position against unilateral tariff increases is consistent”, He Yadong, a spokesperson for China’s commerce ministry, said at a scheduled news briefing on Thursday. “Imposing arbitrary tariffs on trading partners will not solve America’s own problems.”
China’s foreign ministry did not address Trump’s tariff threat, but Beijing took major issue with Trump’s comments that it isn’t doing enough to stop the flow of drugs to the US.
“China is one of the world’s toughest countries on counternarcotics both in terms of policy and its implementation”, China’s foreign affairs ministry said in a Thursday statement.
