China on increased Trump tariffs: US must show ‘respect’ for any talks

Leaders in Beijing say they will not buckle under President Trump’s heightened tariffs on Chinese imports, signaling a willingness to escalate the trade war if potential negotiations are not done with “respect.”

The Trump administration issued a 90-day pause on tariffs for most foreign trading partners on Wednesday, with the exception of China. Instead, Trump criticized the Chinese government for imposing retaliatory measures on the U.S. after the White House’s latest tariffs went into effect.

In return, the president increased import taxes on China to 125 percent.

Despite vowing to keep up the fight, China’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday said the country is open to talks to mitigate the tariffs but noted that any negotiations must be done with a manner of “respect” for both parties.

“If the U.S. side really wants to talk it should show an attitude of equality, respect and reciprocity,” ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at his daily press briefing, according to a translation from Reuters. 

Last week, Trump unveiled his “Liberation Day” tariffs on most foreign trading partners, imposing a 10 percent baseline tax on imported goods paired with higher reciprocal taxes for many countries. Beijing was slapped with an additional 34 percent tariff on goods imported into the U.S., bringing the total at the time up to 54 percent.

After the Chinese Ministry of Commerce issued a reciprocal 34 percent tax on U.S. goods, the Trump administration levied an additional 50 percent import tax on the nation — raising the tariffs to 104 percent.

China responded in kind with 50 percent retaliatory measures, increasing the duties on American-made goods to 84 percent. The back-and-forth actions led to Trump’s decision to issue other trading partners a 3-month reprieve to encourage negotiation, notably leaving China out of the deal.

“If the United States ignores the interest of the two countries and the international community and insists on fighting a tariff war and a trade war, China will certainly accompany it to the end,” Jin said Thursday.

China has turned to the European Union with hopes of expanding their trade partnership with the 27 member countries, as challenges persist between the two largest economies in the world. 

“China is willing to work with the EU to jointly implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of China and the EU, strengthen communication and exchanges, and deepen China-EU trade, investment and industrial cooperation,” the Xinhua News Agency reported.

This came before the European Commission announced on Thursday that it too would halt countermeasures on the U.S. for 90 days, opening up the door for compromise.

Meanwhile, Mao Ning, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs poked fun at Trump’s uptick in trade taxes on a nation responsible for producing some of his “Make America Great Again (MAGA)” gear.

On Thursday, Ning posted a cluster of MAGA hats on social platform X with tags that read “Made in China” in addition to a sales tag that featured a $27 price hike. 

Shortly before that post, she shared a video of Mao Zendong, who founded the People’s Republic of China, railing against former Presidents Truman and Eisenhower during the Korean War.

“We are Chinese. We are not afraid of provocations. We don’t back down,” Ning wrote in the caption drawing from the country’s history of resistance.