China warns US of countermeasures if Trump doesn’t walk back 100% tariff threat
Written by Black Hot Fire Network on October 12, 2025
Hong Kong
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Beijing has vowed countermeasures against Washington if US President Donald Trump makes good on his threat to impose new 100% tariffs on Chinese goods.
Trump’s threat came after China unleashed a raft of export restrictions on rare earth minerals last week. The escalating tensions threaten to derail months of progress in trade talks.
“Resorting to threats of high tariffs is not the right way to engage with China,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce said Sunday, in Beijing’s first comments on the Trump threat. “Our position on a tariff war remains consistent – we do not want one, but we are not afraid of one.”
“If the US persists in acting unilaterally, China will resolutely take corresponding measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” the spokesperson added.
China urged the United States to “promptly correct its wrong approach, follow the important consensus reached between (Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Trump), preserve the hard-won progress in negotiation,” the spokesperson said.
China’s new export restrictions on rare earths will massively ramp up pressure on global industries and tech supply chains, which rely on these minerals to produce everything from everyday electronics, semiconductors and automobiles, to fighter jets.
The commerce ministry spokesperson described the export controls as a “legitimate move,” accusing Washington of “double standards.”
“For a long time, the United States has overstretched the concept of national security and abused export controls, adopting discriminatory measures against China. Washington has imposed unilateral ‘long-arm jurisdiction’ restrictions on a wide range of products, including semiconductor equipment and chips. The US export control list covers more than 3,000 items – compared with just over 900 on China’s list,” the spokesperson said.
The ministry blamed Washington for the latest escalation of trade tensions, as the Trump administration introduced a series of new restrictive measures against China just 20 days after the latest round of trade talks in Madrid in early September.
The US measures included adding multiple Chinese entities to its export control list and expanding its export controls to cover listed companies’ subsidiaries, as well as the implementation of special port fees for Chinese ships, the spokesperson said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
