China’s Foreign Ministry has issued a defiant response to recent US tariffs on Chinese imports, calling the fentanyl crisis a “flimsy excuse” for trade restrictions and vowing to fight “till the end” in any resulting trade war.
In a strongly worded statement posted on social media platform X on Thursday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson rejected US justifications for the tariffs and accused Washington of “smearing” Beijing despite China’s claimed efforts to assist with America’s drug crisis.
“The fentanyl issue is a flimsy excuse to raise US tariffs on Chinese imports,” the statement read. “Our countermeasures to defend our rights and interests are fully legitimate and necessary.”
The Chinese statement directly challenged US claims that China has not done enough to curb fentanyl precursors and manufacturing, insisting instead that Beijing has “taken robust steps to assist the US” with the issue.
“The US, not anyone else, is responsible for the #FentanylCrisis inside the US,” the spokesperson wrote, adding that America was “PUNISHING us for helping them.”
The statement significantly escalates rhetoric as trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies worsen during President Trump’s second term. It concluded with an explicit warning: “If war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end.”
The Biden administration had previously reached agreements with China on fentanyl control in late 2023, but the Trump administration has accused Beijing of failing to fulfill these commitments, using this as partial justification for new tariffs implemented last month.
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