Xi Jinping Affirms No Winners In Tariff War

The close friendship between China and Cambodia will certainly be updated as Chinese President Xi Jinping prepares to start his second state visit to this Southeast Asian country. (Doc. X/@XHNews)

JAKARTA - The escalation of the trade war between the two world's largest economies is increasingly inevitable. China on Friday, April 11, announced significant countermeasures against the United States by increasing the import rate of US goods from 84 percent to 125 percent.

This move is a direct response to the unilateral tariff increase previously applied by US President Donald Trump to Chinese products.

Beijing's decision was taken after Trump, despite suspending import rates for a number of other countries, actually raised rates against China to a total of 145 percent. China denounced the US policy as "economic intimidation" and pledged to take appropriate countermeasures. This new tariff from China will take effect on Saturday local time.

Speaking from HuffPost, Saturday, April 12, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Finance in a statement announcing the new tariff stated that Washington's repeated measures in raising rates "would be a joke in world economic history." Furthermore, he stressed, "However, if the US insists on continuing to substantially violate China's interests, China will firmly fight and fight to the end."

China's Ministry of Trade also announced that it would file another lawsuit against the World Trade Organization (WTO) against US tariffs.

Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, stressed that there were no winners in the tariff war, the CCTV state television station reported.

"For more than 70 years, China has always relied on itself and worked hard for development, never relied on help from anyone, and was not afraid of unreasonable oppression," he said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday also stated that China stands firm against Trump's tariff not only to defend its own rights and interests, but also to safeguard the common interest of the international community to ensure that humanity is not dragged back into the jungle world where power is the truth.

Wang's statement was made during a meeting with Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Beijing. Wang said that China would work closely with other countries to work together against all regressive actions in the world. "

Trump's changing tariff policy has raised concerns in stock markets and bonds, even prompting warnings that the US could lead to a recession. While there was little relief when Trump suspended tariffs for most countries, concerns remain high considering the US and China are the two largest economies in the world.