‘America’s ignorance on full display’: Why China is unfazed by the ‘tariff apocalypse’
“In the war of attrition, you don’t outlast China. America will buck first,” a Chinese journalist has warned.
As Donald Trump’s trade war with China deepens, the Asian powerhouse has been left “unfazed” by mounting tariffs, a Chinese journalist has claimed, warning the US doesn’t “understand what the Chinese are capable of”.
The US President announced on Wednesday he was slapping 125 per cent tariffs on China after it retaliated by matching US tariffs.
China responded with yet another escalation, bumping up its tariffs on all goods imported from the United States to 84 per cent.
Despite global stock market chaos and recession fears triggered by Mr Trump’s brutal tariffs, Huang Jiyuan, the Opinion Editor of Chinese media outlet CGTN said there’s a “sense of calmness” he feels when talking with people in China.
“This is what I hear the most from my conversations – We knew this was coming. Trump was clear about it long ago,” he said in a video posted on the outlet’s YouTube channel on Thursday about China’s stance on the “tariff apocalypse”.
“We were going to enact countermeasures because if you do this to China, you should expect to be slapped back.
“And third, in the war of attrition, you don’t outlast China. America will buck first.”
Mr Huang said one reason China is “confident” in the face of Mr Trump’s tariffs is its vast array of industries, which include mining, manufacturing, textiles, technology and agriculture.
“China is the only country in the world with industries across all categories in the UN industrialisation. That affords China the ability to produce everything domestically, if necessary, without having to rely on imports,” he said.
He also pointed out that China accounts for nearly one-third of the global manufacturing output.
In 2022, it made up a staggering 31 per cent, according to the United Nations Statistics Division.
“It has been in the lead for 15 years consecutively. That’s accompanied by a hoard of highly skilled workers with decades of manufacturing (and) technical expertise,” said Mr Huang.
Mr Huang suggested Mr Trump started a global tariff war because he wants America “to be able to do the same” and match China.
He pointed to observations by New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman, who wrote in an opinion piece this week, “what is coming out of China today is not just cheaper and faster. It’s cheaper, faster, better and smarter.”
“This engine is the product of decades of massive government investments in education, infrastructure and research … While China was building that, America’s biggest new industry was political polarization and getting its children addicted to TikTok and Instagram.”
‘They don’t get China’
Mr Huang argued the US simply doesn’t “understand” China.
He referenced controversial comments made by Vice President JD Vance, who claimed Washington was borrowing money from “Chinese peasants” in a Fox News interview last week.
During the interview, Mr Vance defended the President’s tariffs as an antidote to a “globalist economy”, which he said had not worked for ordinary Americans.
“We borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture,” Mr Vance said.
“That is not a recipe for economic prosperity. It’s not a recipe for low prices, and it’s not a recipe for good jobs in the United States of America.
“President Trump is taking this economy in a different direction.”
China later hit back, condemning Mr Vance’s “ignorant and impolite” remarks.
“China’s position on China-US economic and trade relations has been made very clear,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Tuesday.
“It is surprising and sad to hear such ignorant and impolite words from this vice president,” he added.
Slamming the US’ “ignorance”, Mr Huang said: “They don’t get China, they don’t understand the strength and the resilience of the Chinese.”
“They don’t understand what the Chinese are capable of or the determination to let nothing stand in the way of making China great.”
“Meanwhile, America’s ignorance is on full display in front of the whole world.”
Mr Huang said that while people in China enjoy consuming American products from companies such as Tesla and Disney, it “doesn’t mean we can be bullied into giving away our interests”.
“Trade disputes will only be solved at the negotiating table. If the United States thinks mountains tariffs could get us there, well, all I can say is, good luck with it,” he concluded.
China vows to ‘fight to the end’
It comes as China urged the US on Thursday to meet it “halfway” in the escalating trade war, while promising to “fight to the end” if a compromise cannot be reached.
“The door to dialogue is open, but it must be based on mutual respect and conducted in an equal manner,” Commerce Ministry spokeswoman He Yongqian said.
“We hope that the two countries will meet each other halfway and work toward resolving differences through dialogue and consultation, guided by the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win co-operation,” she added.
Mr Trump abruptly paused higher tariffs on most countries on Wednesday after admitting they made the markets nervous. He also lowered his reciprocal tariffs to 10 per cent.
However, the President doubled down on a spiralling trade war with China, raising tariffs on the nation to 125 per cent after it had retaliated by matching the US’ tariffs against it.
“Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125 per cent, effective immediately,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realise that the days of ripping off the USA, and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable.”
China hit back, announcing retaliatory tariffs of 84 per cent on imports of US goods.
“The US escalation of tariffs on China is a mistake on top of a mistake, which seriously infringes of China’s legitimate rights and interests and seriously undermines the rules-based multilateral trading system,” China’s finance ministry said in a statement.
Australia rejects China’s offer to ‘join hands’ against Trump’s tariffs
As tensions deepened, Australia rejected China’s offer to “join hands” and fight back against Mr Trump’s tariffs.
In an opinion piece for the Sydney Morning Heraldon Thursday, Chinese Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian said the only way to stop the “bullying behaviour of the US” was for the whole world to “jointly resist”.
“The international community, including China and Australia, should firmly say no to unilateralism and protectionism, join hands to defend the multilateral trading system, safeguard a fair and free trading environment and promote the development of economic globalisation in the direction of greater openness, inclusiveness, universality and balance,” the ambassador wrote.
“Under the new circumstances, China stands ready to join hands with Australia and the international community to jointly respond to the changes of the world, resolutely uphold international equity and justice, defend the multilateral trading system, ensure the stability of global industrial and supply chains, and maintain an open and co-operative international environment.”
However, Defence Minister Richard Marles was quick to reject the offer, saying Australia – which was hit with 10 per cent tariffs on goods imported to the US – would focus on diversifying its trade.
“We’re not about to make common cause with China, that’s not what’s going to happen here,” Mr Marles told 9News.
“I don’t think we’ll be holding China’s hand,” he added.
“We don’t want to see a trade war between America and China, to be clear, but our focus is on actually diversifying our trade.”
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also weighed on China’s call to “join hands”, telling reporters Australia “will speak for ourselves”.
“Australia’s position is that free and fair trade is good,” he said at a press conference on Thursday when asked about the offer.
– With AFP
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