The remarks were made at the foreign minister’s annual press conference.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China will continue to retaliate for the United States’ “arbitrary tariffs” and accused Washington of “meeting good with evil” in a press conference Friday on the sidelines of the country’s annual parliamentary session.
Wang said China’s efforts to help the U.S. contain its fentanyl crisis have been met with punitive tariffs, which are straining their ties.
“No country should fantasize that it can suppress China and maintain a good relationship with China at the same time,” Wang said. “Such two-faced acts are not good for the stability of bilateral relations or for building mutual trust.”
The U.S. this week levied duties against China as well as Canada and Mexico over accusations of fentanyl smuggling, which the countries have called unjustified. China maintains it’s done a lot to curb the exports of industrial chemicals used to make fentanyl over the past few years, and that illegal drug use in the U.S. is a domestic problem.
The duties were the latest in a series of retaliatory tariffs Washington and Beijing have imposed against one another since U.S. President Donald Trump’s return to office in January. The U.S. raised flat tariffs on all Chinese imports to 20%, while Beijing countered with additional 15% duties on U.
