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LAST UPDATE | 8 Apr
CHINA HAS CONDEMNED US Vice President JD Vance as “ignorant and impolite”, after he referred to Washington borrowing money from “Chinese peasants”.
“China’s position on China-US economic and trade relations has been made very clear,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.
“It is surprising and sad to hear such ignorant and impolite words from this vice president,” he added.
US President Donald Trump has upended the world economy with sweeping tariffs that have raised the spectre of an international recession, but has ruled out any pause in his aggressive trade policy despite a dramatic market sell-off.
Speaking to Fox News last week, Vance defended those tariffs as an antidote to a “globalist economy” he said had not worked for ordinary Americans.
“We borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture,” the vice president 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,” he said.
China has also pledged to “fight to the end” against fresh tariffs of 50% threatened by US President Donald Trump, further aggravating a trade war that has already wiped trillions off global markets.
Beijing’s Commerce Ministry said the US‘s imposition of “so-called ‘reciprocal tariffs’” on China is “completely groundless and is a typical unilateral bullying practice”.
“If the US insists on going its own way, China will fight it to the end,” a spokesperson for the commerce ministry said, adding that Trump’s threat “once again exposes the US’s blackmailing nature”.
The Chinese ministry hinted more retaliatory tariffs may be coming, with a bitter trade war between the world’s biggest economies likely to only further fears of a recession.
“The countermeasures China has taken are aimed at safeguarding its sovereignty, security and development interests, and maintaining the normal international trade order,” the ministry said.
“They are completely legitimate,” it added.
Since annoncing new global tariffs lst week, Trump has dismissed any possibility of halting his aggressive trade policy, even in the face of a significant market downturn.
A 10% “baseline” tariff on US imports from around the world took effect Saturday, and a slew of countries will be hit by higher duties from tomorrow, including the levy of 34% for Chinese goods as well as 20% for EU products.
While meeting Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, the first leader to lobby Trump in person over the levies, the US President said:
“There can be permanent tariffs, and there can also be negotiations, because there are things that we need beyond tariffs.”
Yesterday also saw Beijing – Washington’s major economic rival – respond to Trump by announcing its own 34% duties on US goods to come into effect on Thursday, in a showdown between the world’s two biggest economies.
The swift retaliation from China earned a new warning from Trump that he would impose additional levies if Beijing refused to stop pushing back against his barrage of tariffs — driving the overall levies on Chinese goods to 104%.
“I have great respect for China but they can not do this,” Trump said in the White House. “We are going to have one shot at this… I’ll tell you what, it is an honour to do it.”
China swiftly hit back, blasting what it called “blackmailing” by the US and saying it would “never accept” such action.
“If the US escalates its tariff measures, China will resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard its own rights and interests,” the ministry said.
The ministry reiterated that it sought “dialogue” with the United States, and that there were “no winners in a trade war”.
Trump’s tariffs have already had a dramatic impact on markets in the last days, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng collapsing by 13.2% yesterday — its worst day since the Asian financial crisis — before paring back some of those losses in opening trade on Tuesday.
Wall Street stocks finished lower following a volatile session, with both the Dow and S&P 500 ending down.
Trillions of dollars have been wiped off combined stock market valuations in recent sessions.
Trump doubled down again on Monday, saying he was “not looking” at any pause in tariff implementation.
He also scrapped any meetings with China over tariffs, but said the United States was ready for talks with any country willing to negotiate.
After equities took a huge hammering in Shanghai on Monday, China’s central bank issued a statement before trading resumed Tuesday to underline it was standing behind a sovereign fund as it buys up exchange traded funds to stabilise the market.
With investors seeking any relief from the ruinous trade war, stocks in Tokyo leapt on Tuesday after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested in an interview with Fox News that Japan would get “priority” in negotiations over the US tariffs “just because they came forward very quickly”.
Scores of countries have sought talks, Bessent told Fox News, adding “through good negotiations, all we will do is see levels come down”.
EU trade ministers were in Luxembourg on Monday to discuss the bloc’s response, with the 27-nation bloc considering its options.
With reporting by PA, Eoghan Dalton and – © AFP2025
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