The Chinese government rejected the advertisement of tariffs by the US, which it accused of exercising “pressure” with the “matter of fentanyl”.
China accused the United States on Friday of exercising “tariff and blackmail pressure” after the new announcement of President Donald Trump about the next week of an additional 10 % tariff to Chinese imports, pointing out the continuous flow of fentanyl towards US territory.
The new levies, which add to a 10 % tariff applied on February 4, coincide with the start of the Annual Parliamentary Meeting of China, a political event in which Beijing is expected to present its economic priorities by 2025.
Washington has “used the issue of fentanyl to insist on tariff pressure and blackmail,” Lin Jian, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the press.
“It has caused a serious impact, pressure, coercion and threat to dialogue and cooperation between both parties for drug control,” Lin said about tariffs, warning that they would be counterproductive.
“Notable results have been achieved,” he added, about China's anti -drug cooperation with the United States, saying that the Asian nation was the first country in the world to officially control the substances similar to fentanyl.
Trump also reported with the additional tariff to China, their 25 % rates proposals on Mexican and Canadian products would also come into force on Tuesday.
The announcement gives Beijing less than a week to publish countermeasures.
In an interview with the Fox News channel, the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, accused China on Thursday of fighting an opium war “in reverse” for fentanyl, suggesting that the Asian country could be flooding “deliberately” USA with the synthetic opioid.
Rubio referred to the two wars of the nineteenth century opium that China lost against the United Kingdom and France, after which it was forced to buy large volumes of the drug and to give parts of its territory to the Western colonial powers.
On Friday, the Ministry of Commerce of China said that its anti -drug policy is one of the strictest in the world and pointed out the risks that the new tariffs for world supply chains would mean.
Analysts claim that Beijing still hopes to reach an agreement with the Trump government.
Although since commercial conversations have not yet materialized and that the White House is increasing the signs of refine preparations for a broader economic separation from China, the perspective of an approach between the two main economies of the world is fading, they added.
(With Reuters information)