China says it won't care about Trump's 'tariff numbers game'

Container shipping (Photo: Port of Los Angeles/Phaata)

China's foreign ministry said it won't care about US President Donald Trump's 'tariff numbers game' after the White House revealed that Chinese exports could face tariffs of up to 245%.

The information was released in a White House briefing paper released earlier this week.

The document includes the 125% tariff Trump recently announced, along with a 20% tariff previously imposed in response to Beijing's alleged failure to control the flow of fentanyl into the US. There are also potential tariffs ranging from 7.5% to 100% proposed as part of national security reviews under the Trade Act of 1974.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s statement Thursday echoed a statement from the country’s Finance Ministry last week, when it described Trump’s escalating tariffs as a “joke” that no longer makes any economic sense.

China currently imposes a 125% tariff on US goods and has implemented other non-tariff measures, including restricting the release of Hollywood films in the Chinese market.

If Trump’s tariffs are not eased, much of the US-China trade will come to a complete halt due to rising costs, according to economists.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) said on Wednesday that under current conditions, global trade volumes are expected to fall by 0.2% in 2025 — nearly 3 percentage points lower than in a low-tariff baseline.

The WTO also warned that the spillover effects of Mr Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs — most of which have been postponed until July — could cause global merchandise trade to fall by as much as 1.5%, hurting export-dependent least-developed countries in particular.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) also cut its global growth forecast for 2025 from 2.5% to 2.3%. UNCTAD noted that growth below 2.5% is often a warning sign of a global recession.

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Source: Phaata.com (According to Al Jazeera)

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