China has warned Donald Trump that a new trade war “will leave no party unscathed” as the incoming US president’s new tariff threats provoke an angry reaction.
The response by the world’s second-largest economy to Mr Trump’s promise, of additional 10% tariffs on all goods from China into the US, came via state media.
“There are no winners in tariff wars. If the US continues to politicise economic and trade issues by weaponising tariffs, it will leave no party unscathed,” the China Daily said in an editorial.
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Mr Trump announced late on Monday that he would also target neighbours Mexico and Canada.
He pledged 25% tariffs on goods coming from both nations due to excessive migration.
Mexico and China, however, are also in his sights for another reason.
Mr Trump says both a responsible for “attacking” the US with fentanyl – a drug widely blamed for the opioid crisis in the country that has seen more than 100,000 people die from overdoses alone in recent years.
China, his camp argues, is the dominant source of chemical precursors used by Mexican cartels to produce the deadly drug.
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The China Daily editorial continued: “The excuse the president-elect has given to justify his threat of additional tariffs on imports from China is farfetched.
“The world sees clearly that the root cause of the fentanyl crisis in the US lies with the US itself.”
Mr Trump wants both Mexico and China to clamp down on the drugs.
Mexico has long been in his sights over migration, with the volume of illegal border crossings prompting a crackdown during his first term in office.
That did, however, fall short of his 2016 threat of a “big, beautiful” border wall though the existing barrier was extended and bolstered in places.
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This is a big deal for both Canada and Mexico especially.
More than 83% of exports from Mexico went to the US in 2023 and 75% of Canadian exports go to the country.
Mexico has pledged to react to any US tariffs by responding in kind.
Canada’s government has spoken of working together but provincial leaders have voiced anger and shock.
Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford, expected retaliation against its closest trading partner.
He said of Mr Trump’s threat: “I found his comments unfair. I found them insulting. It’s like a family member stabbing you right in the heart.”
If tariffs were to be implemented, as Mr Trump has threatened, the aim would be to hurt exports in each of the countries’ targeted in a bid to shrink the US trade deficit.
The country imports far more than it sends abroad.
However, by raising the cost of imported goods, Mr Trump would risk raising US inflation; the pace of price increases in his own domestic economy as the cost is passed on down supply chains to consumers.
Analysis by Goldman Sachs estimated they would raise consumer prices inflation by 1%, if carried through.
They would also hurt profit margins for US companies, while raising the threat of retaliatory tariffs by other countries, the US bank projected.
The prospect of a trade war has not spooked financial markets, with European and Asian equities seeing only limited losses while the broad S&P 500 on Wall Street is at record levels.
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However, the spectre of a wider Trump-led crackdown on imports has been felt elsewhere, with shares of carmakers coming under pressure on Tuesday.
AJ Bell head of financial analysis, Danni Hewson, wrote: “Proving his love of tariffs wasn’t just a campaign stunt, Trump has pledged he will immediately target Mexico, Canada and China before the last bit of confetti has fallen on his inauguration.”
“For European car makers already struggling to make the shift to EVs profitable, it will have sounded an alarm and shares in Stellantis and Volkswagen both took a hit as did US automakers which import a large number of vehicles from both Canada and Mexico.”