China’s Foreign Ministry and the Chinese embassy have issued strong statements asserting they are “ready to fight till the end” after President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on all Chinese imports from 10 percent to 20 percent.
Initially, Trump implemented the 10 percent tariff against China in early February, but on March 4, he escalated the trade measures by increasing the tariff to 20 percent—the same day he imposed 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada.
Trump justified these tariffs as a means to combat “the extraordinary threat to U.S. national security, including our public health posed by unchecked drug trafficking.” However, China swiftly retaliated this week by imposing additional tariffs of 10-15 percent on specific U.S. agricultural imports.
The 15 percent tariffs target popular products such as chicken, wheat, corn, and cotton, while the 10 percent tariffs apply to pork, beef, aquatic products, fruits, vegetables, and dairy items. In addition to these measures, China has also halted lumber imports from the U.S. and suspended American soybean export permits.
Alfredo Montufar-Helu, head of the China Center for the Conference Board, described China’s response as a “restrained, targeted approach aimed at causing pain to those industries that matter the most to the supporters of the Trump administration.”
Reinforcing its stance, the Chinese embassy took to Twitter to issue a bold statement: “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.”
The tweet mirrored remarks made by Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, on March 4. Jian warned that China would “fight till the end” if the U.S. insisted on escalating the economic conflict.
“I want to reiterate that the Chinese people have never feared evil or ghosts, nor have we ever bowed to hegemony or bullying. Pressure, coercion, and threats are not the right ways to engage with China. Trying to exert maximum pressure on China is a miscalculation and a mistake,” Jian stated.
China has now set an economic growth target of “around five percent” for this year, focusing on strengthening domestic demand as the “main engine and anchor” of its growth. In previous years, China relied heavily on exports to meet its economic objectives, but the ongoing trade war with the U.S. signals a strategic shift toward internal market reliance.
With both nations standing firm, the trade dispute between the U.S. and China appears set to intensify further.
