This photo shows a general view of a screen broadcasting live footage of China’s President Xi Jinping attending the opening session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) as seen outside a shopping mall in Beijing on March 5, 2025.
Greg Baker | Afp | Getty Images
China said it was prepared to fight “any type of war” with the U.S., as President Donald Trump ratchets up economic and political pressure on the country.
“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,” Chinese Embassy in the U.S. said in a post on X on Wednesday, signaling an increasingly aggressive stance toward the U.S.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson later in the day called the U.S. fentanyl-related explanation for imposing tariffs a “flimsy excuse.”
“If the U.S. has other agenda in mind and if harming China’s interests is what the U.S. wants, we’re ready to fight till the end. We urge the U.S. to stop being domineering and return to the right track of dialogue and cooperation at an early date,” the spokesperson said.
The remarks came as Trump’s additional 10% tariffs on imports from China took effect Tuesday, taking the cumulative tariffs imposed in just about a month to 20%.
In a swift retaliation, Beijing announced Tuesday additional tariffs as high as 15% on certain U.S. goods, starting from March 10 and a series of new export restrictions for designated U.S. entities.
China’s relationship with the U.S. is bound to see disagreements, but Beijing will not accept pressure or threats, Lou Qinjian, spokesperson for the third session of the 14th National People’s Congress, told reporters Tuesday morning.
After the initial round of new U.S. tariffs in February, China’s retaliatory measures included raising duties on certain U.S. energy imports and putting two U.S. companies on an unreliable entities list that could restrict their ability to do business in the Asian country.
The average effective U.S. tariff rate on Chinese goods is thus set to hit 33%, up from around 13% before U.S. President Donald Trump began his latest term in January, according to estimates from Nomura’s Chief China economist Ting Lu.
China’s biggest political meeting of this year kicked off on Tuesday in Beijing, where the government set the key economic targets for 2025 and will continue to unveil their economic blueprints for the year. The event is scheduled to conclude on March 11.
— CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng contributed to the report.