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China vowed on Wednesday to “fight to the end” against Donald Trump's tariffs in a lengthy policy statement that asked for "equality, respect and mutual benefit" from the US. The eye watering tariffs have created create a dire situation for Chinese exporters, and the country may have to forge new relationships with buyers elsewhere in the world, FRANCE 24's Yena Lee reports from Beijing.
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0:00
Well, there's a little sign of China budging for now
0:06
A foreign ministry spokesperson earlier saying, I quote, China firmly opposes and never accepts such hegemonic and bullying acts
0:14
If the US truly wants to resolve issues through dialogue and negotiation
0:19
they should show an attitude based on equality, respect and mutual benefit
0:24
Meanwhile, the state council, which is the government or the cabinet here in China
0:28
They also just released a white paper reiterating their stance on the U.S.-China trade relationship
0:36
It's a text that overall demands a little bit of respect from the U.S. when it comes to negotiation
0:42
And in it, they didn't really use any words that were unusually or particularly bombastic or insulting
0:48
as we have been able to see coming out of Washington. I'm referring to J.D. Vance's comments speaking about so-called Chinese peasants
0:57
Thursday, Beijing's promised retaliatory tariffs of 34% on U.S. goods are set to kick in
1:04
We'll have to wait and see if they add anything extra on top of that in reaction to Donald Trump's extra 50%
1:11
Because now we have, as we've been saying, 104% in duties on Chinese goods now
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Chinese state media here have dangled some potential options for retaliatory measures quite publicly
1:25
some of the suggestions, for example, include suspending fentanyl cooperation, more tariffs
1:31
on US agricultural products, particularly poultry, and also the banning of US movies
1:37
What does it actually mean in practice there Yenna Well we already seen the immediate effects on markets here in China It was a Black Monday for Hong Kong
1:50
Mainland stocks also not doing well either since. They've all yet to recover from their losses
1:56
And this Wednesday, again, major indexes sank. If the US and China fail to come up with some sort of compromise
2:03
then this 104% tariff could stick. could stick. And we're talking about 104% on top of some existing duties on some products already
2:12
So the situation is rather dire for Chinese exporters who relied on the U.S. market. We
2:17
spoke to one factory owner just now who told us that he's stuck in limbo, quite unsure what to do
2:23
right now. And he is researching ways to expand to different countries such as Mexico. Another
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person we spoke to said he'd already been turning away from the U.S. market for a few years now
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So obviously quite relieved then by the choices he's already made. When it comes to such steep tariffs, there's only so much you can do to pass it on to the consumer
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At some point, manufacturers too might have to absorb some of this or face a drop in sales
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China has, though, in recent years, been reaching out to new markets quite aggressively
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particularly in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East. They've been encouraging their businesses to forge new relations
2:59
they're diversifying away from the US because for China, the US had become an unreliable
3:05
trade partner since the first Trump presidency. All of this does mean that Beijing has somewhat
3:11
been prepared for round two of the trade war. This time, though, the scale and the scope is
3:17
different. Plus, China's economic situation really not in good shape right now. So we'll
3:23
have to find ways to deal with all of its overcapacity. GNF
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