China has vowed to “fight till the end” against President Donald Trump’s tariffs, warning that it is ready for any “type” of war with the U.S.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement on Tuesday that pushed back against tariffs against the Chinese government that Trump bumped up from 10% to 20% earlier this week over Beijing’s failure to address the flow of fentanyl entering the U.S.
“If war is what the U.S. wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end,” ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said in the statement. China has already responded to the tariffs by imposing a 15% tariff on American agricultural goods.
Jian’s statement, which was quoted by the Chinese Embassy in Washington, argued that the fentanyl issue is a “flimsy excuse” to raise tariffs on Chinese imports. Jian cautioned that “intimidation does not scare us” and “bullying” would not work.
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“Pressuring, coercion or threats are not the right way of dealing with China,” Jian said. “Anyone using maximum pressure on China is picking the wrong guy and miscalculating.”
The tariffs against China went into effect on Tuesday. Trump increased the tariffs on Monday with an executive order that stated the Chinese government has failed “to blunt the sustained influx of synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, flowing from [their country],” and that such failure constitutes an “unusual and extraordinary threat.”
Trump also said that the crisis jeopardizes the “national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”
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Beijing, however, claimed that only the U.S. is responsible for the fentanyl crisis inside the U.S., though left the door open for “cooperation” in solving the fentanyl crisis.
“If the U.S. truly wants to solve the fentanyl issue, then the right thing to do is to consult with China by treating each other as equals,” Jian said in the statement.
The Chinese government has opposed the tariffs since they were announced.
The Trump administration is already imposing 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods, which were announced last month and also went into effect on Tuesday.
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Trump addressed the tariffs during his address before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, saying that while the objective is to make the nation “rich” and “great again,” there will “be a little disturbance” for American consumers.
Fox News Digital’s Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.
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