'Ready to fight till the end': China's strong reply to Trump amid tariff war

New Delhi: China's embassy in the US issued a strong statement warning of readiness to engage in a tariff war, trade war, or any other conflict if the US escalates tensions amid rising trade disputes.

In a post on X, the Chinese embassy in the US said, "If war is what the U.S. wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end."

If war is what the U.S. wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end. https://t.co/crPhO02fFE

— Chinese Embassy in US (@ChineseEmbinUS) March 5, 2025

The statement comes as the US imposed new tariffs on Chinese imports, citing China's role in the fentanyl crisis.

Fentanyl is a synthetic drug manufactured from a combination of chemicals. US regulators approved it for use in medical settings as a pain reliever in the 1960s, but it has since become the main drug responsible for opioid overdose deaths in the US.

Over 74,000 Americans died in 2023 after taking drug mixtures containing fentanyl, according to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

US-China trade tensions have escalated under President Donald Trump's second term, with retaliatory tariffs announced by China on $21 billion worth of US agricultural products, including soybeans and corn.

Trump criticised the high tariffs charged by China, India and other countries, terming them as “very unfair”, and announced reciprocal tariffs from April 2 on nations that impose levies on American goods.

Trump made these remarks in an address to the Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday. It was the first address of his second term in the White House. On January 20, Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of the US.

“If you don’t make your product in America, however, under the Trump administration, you will pay a tariff and in some cases, a rather large one," Trump said.

"Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades and now it’s our turn to start using them against those other countries. On average, the European Union, China, Brazil, India, Mexico and Canada — have you heard of them? And countless other nations charge us tremendously higher tariffs than we charge them," Trump said.

"China’s average tariff on our products is twice what we charge them. And South Korea’s average tariff is four times higher. Think of that. Four times higher. And we give so much help militarily and in so many other ways to South Korea. But that’s what happens. This is happening by friend and foe," Trump said.

Asserting that this system is "not fair to the United States" and never was, Trump said that reciprocal tariffs will kick in from April 2.

"Whatever they tariff us, other countries, we will tariff them. That’s reciprocal, back and forth,” Trump said amid applause from Republican lawmakers.

He added that "I did it with China, and I did it with others and the Biden administration couldn't do anything about it because it was so much money they couldn’t do anything about it."

"But even more importantly, they have allowed fentanyl to come into our country at levels never seen before, killing hundreds of thousands of our citizens and many very young, beautiful people, destroying families. Nobody’s ever seen anything like it. They are in effect receiving subsidies of hundreds of billions of dollars. We pay subsidies to Canada and to Mexico of hundreds of billions of dollars. And the United States will not be doing that any longer. We are not going to do it any longer."

Trump is implementing a 25 per cent additional tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10 per cent additional tariff on imports from China. In a retaliatory action, Canada said that effective March 4, 2025, it is imposing 25 per cent tariffs on USD 30 billion in goods imported from the United States.

China also announced it will impose additional tariffs of up to 15 per cent on imports of key US farm products.