Beijing has promised firm countermeasures against any nation that “appeases” the United States, in response to reports that President Donald Trump is attempting to economically isolate China in negotiations over reciprocal tariffs.
“It should be pointed out in particular that China firmly opposes any party reaching a deal at the expense of China’s interests,” the country’s Commerce Ministry said on Monday. “Should such a situation arise, China will never accept it and will resolutely take countermeasures in a reciprocal manner. China is determined and capable of safeguarding its own rights and interests.”
Newsweek has reached out to the White House and Chinese Foreign Ministry via email for comment.
Why It Matters
The escalating trade war between Beijing and Washington has so far seen both countries impose staggering duties on each other’s goods—currently 145 percent on Chinese imports to the U.S. and 125 percent on American exports to China.
China has been resolute in its opposition to Washington’s protectionist measures, vowing to “fight till the end,” while imposing trade controls on rare earth exports and taking punitive actions against American companies operating within its borders.
Reports of Trump utilizing reciprocal tariffs to coax trading partners into distancing themselves from China’s economy, and Beijing’s pledge to respond in kind, demonstrate that other nations will inevitably be drawn into the back-and-forth between the world’s two largest economies.
What To Know
Since Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on April 2, currently subject to a 90-day pause, the administration has claimed that over 75 countries have been in contact in hopes of negotiating the new duties on their imports.
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal last week, the Trump administration is pressuring countries to limit trade with China in return for tariff concessions. The outlet cited sources familiar with the negotiations who said that the White House is requesting that nations prohibit Beijing from shipping goods through their territories, stop Chinese firms from operating in their country to avoid Beijing-specific tariffs on U.S.-bound goods, and avoid high levels of Chinese imports.
Minh Hoang / Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
A spokesperson for the Chinese Commerce Ministry said that they were aware of these reports, and accused the U.S. of “under the guise of ‘reciprocity,’ promoting hegemonic politics and implementing unilateral bullying.”
“Appeasement cannot bring peace, and compromise cannot be respected,” the spokesperson said. “To seek so-called exemptions by damaging the interests of others for one’s own temporary selfish interests is to seek the skin of a tiger, which will ultimately only fail on both ends and harm others and oneself.”
As far as potential countermeasures China could take, former U.S. trade negotiator Wendy Cutler told Newsweek: “One only needs to look at the economic coercive measures that China has imposed on trading partners in the past as a guide to what they could do this time around, including harassing foreign companies in China, imposing export restrictions on critical minerals, and imposing tourist bans.”
Prior to the Commerce Ministry’s warning, a similar sentiment was expressed in an editorial piece by the state-run China Daily last week, which urged the European Union not to appease the U.S. and to focus on building ties with “like-minded nations to counter the tariff-wielding bullies in Washington.”
“Strengthening ties with China and other partners who stand in opposition to the tariff war launched by the Trump administration can pave the way for a more resilient and rules-based global economic order,” the piece read.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang also recently sent a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, calling for the two Asian powerhouses to unite against Trump’s tariffs and to “fight protectionism together,” Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass said he was “very optimistic” about the prospect of further trade negotiations between the two countries, following a meeting with Ishiba, according to Kyodo News Agency.
What People Are Saying
The Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China on Monday: “In the face of unilateralism and protectionism, no one can be immune. Once international trade returns to the ‘law of the jungle’ where the strong prey on the weak, all countries will become victims. China is willing to strengthen unity and coordination with all parties, work together to respond, jointly resist unilateral bullying, safeguard its legitimate rights and interests, and defend international fairness and justice.”
Eswar Prasad, economist and Tolani senior professor of trade policy at Cornell University, told Newsweek: “Many countries around the world that have strong trade and financial relationships with both the United States and China are now finding themselves faced with the impossible challenge of being forced to pick sides.
“China has substantial leverage with many countries, particularly in Asia and Africa, that depend on China for a significant portion of their trade and inward investment flows,” he added.
“These countries will face an especially difficult time in resisting China’s closer embrace, especially as the U.S. has shown itself to be an unreliable partner in trade and other matters.”
Wendy Cutler, vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute and a former U.S. trade negotiator, told Newsweek: “It should come as no surprise that in negotiating with third countries that the U.S. would seek agreements on measures to deal with the challenges that China brings to the world economy.
“This includes steps to stop transshipments, bolster investment-screening mechanisms, restrict imports of Chinese excess capacity goods, and decrease Chinese content in products exported to the United States from the third country.”
Cutler added that America’s trading partners “will try hard not to take sides and to balance U.S. requests with Chinese threats,” but that this will prove “a difficult path to navigate.”
Ben Bland, director of Chatham House’s Asia-Pacific program, wrote earlier in April: “Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs, announced on 2 April, have hit Southeast Asia particularly hard, throwing countries’ short-term economic plans into disarray, undermining the basis of their long-term development models, and pushing them further into an uncomfortable embrace with China, their largest trading partner.”
“Even as it frets about the impact on its own economy, Beijing is seeking to make political capital from Trump’s missteps,” Bland continued. “China is positioning itself to Southeast Asia, and the rest of the world, as the responsible defender of the global trading system and rules-based order, in contrast to American unilateralism and economic coercion.”
What Happens Next
In addition to Japan, the Trump administration has initiated trade talks with several of America’s East Asian allies. According to KBS, South Korea is sending a delegation to Washington for discussions later this week.
Meanwhile, negotiations with Thailand have been postponed from their originally scheduled date on Thursday. Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra told reporters that the U.S. had requested a postponement so that Bangkok could review “some key issues” with Thailand’s initial proposals before negotiations could proceed, without elaborating.
Update 4/22/25 11:53 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Wendy Cutler.
