The Chinese embassy in Washington stated on Monday that "neither the United States nor China will win the trade war."
This is Beijing's reaction to the threat of newly elected US President Donald Trump to introduce additional tariffs of ten percent on all Chinese imports when he takes office on January 20, writes Reuters.
"Regarding US tariffs on China, China believes that China-US economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial," Chinese embassy spokesman Liu Pengju said.
"No one is going to win a trade or tariff war," he said.
Trump said that he will impose tariffs until China stops the flow of illegal drugs, especially fentanyl, into the US.
He accused Beijing of not doing enough to stop the flow of illegal drugs entering the US from Mexico.
"Until this is stopped, we will charge China an additional ten percent tariff, on top of all the additional tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the US," Trump said.
Asian stock markets traded cautiously on Tuesday after Trump's allegations of tariff hikes.
Trump has already promised to end China's trade status of the most favored nation and introduce tariffs on Chinese imports of more than 60 percent, which is much higher than those imposed during his first term, reminds Reuters.
Liu said in a statement that China had taken steps to combat drug trafficking after an agreement was reached between outgoing US President Joseph Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping last year.
"The Chinese side has informed the US side of the progress made in US anti-narcotics operations," Liu said.
"All of this proves that the idea that China knowingly allowed fentanyl precursors (the chemical compound needed to make the drug) to reach the US is completely contrary to the facts and reality," Liu said.
China's chief prosecutor urged his law enforcement officials in June to focus on fighting drug trafficking, as Beijing and Washington unveiled a rare joint drug investigation.
Shortly after a joint anti-narcotics task force met in August, China announced it would tighten controls on three chemicals needed to make fentanyl.
In addition to China, the target of tariffs are Mexico and Canada, Trump announced on his social network Truth Social.
DON'T MISS IT
"On January 25th, in one of the first of many executive orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada XNUMX percent tariffs on all products coming into the US, and their ridiculous open borders," Trump announced.
Bonus video:
