by WorldTribune Staff, March 5, 2025 Real World News
Lin Jian, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, warned in a post to X on Tuesday that U.S. “bullying” over the fentanyl issue is the wrong approach to take toward China.
President Donald Trump increased tariffs on China over its inaction on the fentanyl crisis, which Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently suggested looked like it was deliberate.
In an interview with Fox News, Rubio accused China of waging a “reverse” Opium War over fentanyl, suggesting that Beijing may be “deliberately” flooding America with the synthetic opioid.
Lin wrote on Tuesday: “Intimidation does not scare us. Bullying does not work on us. Pressuring, coercion or threats are not the right way of dealing with China. Anyone using maximum pressure on China is picking the wrong guy and miscalculating. If the U.S. truly wants to solve the fentanyl issue, then the right thing to do is to consult with China by treating each other as equals.
“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.”
Asked by a reporter on Wednesday to clarify what he meant by war, Lin again stressed Beijing stands ready to counter any “agendas” from Washington. He urged the U.S. to return to “the right track of dialogue and cooperation.”
Trump on Monday imposed 10% tariffs on imports from China. The fresh round of duties on Chinese goods doubled an initial set of tariffs placed on China last month.
“The influx of these drugs to our Nation threatens the fabric of our society,” Trump said in the executive order raising tariffs. “[China] plays a central role in this challenge, not merely by failing to stem the ultimate source of many illicit drugs distributed in the United States, but by actively sustaining and expanding the business of poisoning our citizens.”
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Within minutes of the new U.S. tariffs taking effect, China unveiled on Tuesday its initial response by placing additional 10% to 15% tariffs on imported U.S. goods like chicken, wheat, soybeans, and beef.
“The retaliatory tariffs that China is imposing is very specific and directly targeted at American farmers, who are mostly in red states and mostly voted for Trump,” Neil Thomas, a fellow for Chinese politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis, told ABC News.
“President Trump continues to demonstrate his commitment to ensuring U.S. trade policy serves the national interest,” the White House said in a statement on Tuesday.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC: “Let’s differentiate between today’s tariffs, which are about saving American lives. China makes the opioid products, and then Mexico and Canada feed them into America—and that’s got to end. They’ve done a nice job on the border, but they haven’t stopped the flow of fentanyl.
“And then if you want to talk about trade policy, that starts April 2. And that’s a very, very clear reset that these countries have used us and abused us, and that is going to change.”
The fentanyl issue is a flimsy excuse to raise U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports. Our countermeasures to defend our rights and interests are fully legitimate and necessary.
The U.S., not anyone else, is responsible for the #FentanylCrisis inside the U.S. In the spirit of humanity… pic.twitter.com/OjvSEcZS6o
— Spokesperson发言人办公室 (@MFA_China) March 4, 2025
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China spokesman: ‘If war is what U.S. wants’ … ‘we’re ready to fight till the end’ added by Editor Two on
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