China Vows ‘Fight To The End’ As Trump Warns 50% More Tariffs

AFP/APP

Beijing: China vowed on Tuesday to “fight to the end” against fresh tariffs of 50 percent threatened by US President Donald Trump, further aggravating a trade war that has already wiped trillions off global markets.

Trump has upended the world economy with sweeping tariffs that have raised the spectre of an international recession, but has ruled out any pause in his aggressive trade policy despite a dramatic market sell-off.

Beijing Washington’s major economic rival but also a key trading partner responded by announcing its own 34 percent duties on US goods to come into effect on Thursday, deepening a showdown between the world’s two largest economies.

The swift retaliation from China sparked a fresh warning from Trump that he would impose additional levies if Beijing refused to stop pushing back against his barrage of tariffs a move that would drive the overall levies on Chinese goods to 104 percent.

“I have great respect for China but they can not do this,” Trump said in the White House.

“We are going to have one shot at this… I’ll tell you what, it is an honour to do it.”

China swiftly hit back, blasting what it called “blackmailing” by the US and saying it would “never accept” those tariffs.

“If the US insists on going its own way, China will fight it to the end,” a spokesperson for Beijing’s commerce ministry said on Tuesday.

“If the US escalates its tariff measures, China will resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard its own rights and interests,” the ministry said.

But Beijing also reiterated that it sought “dialogue” with Washington — and its view that there were “no winners in a trade war”.

Its foreign ministry additionally warned the US that “pressure, threats and blackmail are not the right way to deal with China”.