TAIPEI, TAIWAN —
China is bracing for potential tariffs after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to slap a 10% duty on Chinese imports as early as Feb. 1.
At a regular press briefing Wednesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning stressed China’s commitment to defending its “national interests.”
“We have always believed that there are no winners in a trade war or a tariff war,” she said.
Following Trump’s remarks, China’s benchmark CSI 300 Index dropped 0.9% Wednesday, ending a four-day winning streak. The Hong Kong-listed Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which tracks Chinese stocks, fell 2%.
Beijing’s reactions come after Trump said his team was looking at potentially imposing a 10% tariff on Chinese imports because China has been “sending fentanyl into the U.S. through Mexico and Canada.”
“Probably February 1st is the date we’re looking at,” the U.S. president told reporters Tuesday at the White House.
Trump’s comment comes one day after he appeared to be holding off on imposing tariffs on imports from China, and he directed federal agencies to investigate U.S. trade deficits and unfair trade practices with other countries on Monday.
On Chinese social media, the U.S. president’s threat was met with a mixed response. Some internet users said the 10% tariff could be followed by a series of duties imposed against Chinese goods, while others criticized Trump for being unpredictable and inconsistent with his decisions.
“Why does the U.S. go through all this trouble? In the end, the American people are the ones who would have to pay because if China doesn’t export goods, American people won’t even have Christmas trees,” Chinese internet user Fortune Axe Brother wrote in a post on the Chinese social media platform Weibo.
Some analysts say the threat to impose tariffs as early as Feb. 1 could be the U.S. president’s “negotiating gambit” to force concessions from China.
“Compared to the 25% tariffs that Trump has threatened to impose on Mexico and Canada, the 10% tariff on Chinese imports seems like Trump going easy on China,” said Dexter Roberts, a non-resident fellow at Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub.
In Roberts’ view, the threat reflects Trump’s desire to “cut some sort of deal” with Beijing. “If China comes through with what Trump views as concessions that are good for him and the U.S., he is very likely not to pursue those tariffs right away,” Roberts told VOA by phone.
While it remains unclear whether the U.S. will follow through on the threat, some Chinese people say their export businesses already have been affected by concerns about potential U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports since last year.
“Even before Trump’s latest comments, some of our American customers had already pre-ordered a lot of goods from us since his election victory in November,” a Chinese winter apparel exporter surnamed Yuan in Shanghai, who asked to be identified only by his last name due to security concerns, told VOA in a written response.
Ahead of Trump’s inauguration, American companies increased their purchases from China in the last few months of 2024. China’s official customs data shows that Chinese companies exported goods worth almost $50 billion to the U.S. in December 2024, marking a 10.7% increase from a year before.
To avoid the U.S. tariffs, some Chinese companies have moved production to countries in Southeast Asia or Latin America, such as Vietnam and Mexico, in recent years.
“After Trump launched a trade war against China during his first term, some of our American customers asked my company to move production to Vietnam,” a manager at a consumer electronics manufacturer in Guangzhou surnamed Li, who asked to be identified only by his last name due to security concerns, told VOA in a written response.
Despite these preparations, experts say Chinese businesses will still struggle to deal with a potential trade war that Trump may launch against China during his second term.
“Trump already has experience in launching a trade war against China, and his administration is looking at targeting Chinese efforts to avoid U.S. tariffs by potentially imposing tariffs on Southeast Asian countries or Mexico,” He Jiangbing, an independent Chinese economic commentator, told VOA by phone.
Since China has largely relied on exports to drive its economic growth in recent years, Roberts said potential tariffs imposed by the U.S. government could seriously affect China’s economic growth.
“China’s export sector would be hit hard by the tariffs and that means the whole Chinese economy would be hit hard,” he told VOA, saying the trend would have a “knock-on effect” on domestic consumption.
“Exporters are employers so they might have to lay off workers and cut wages. People who have been laid off may spend less money and that will hurt the Chinese economy,” Roberts added.
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