China slams US ‘protectionism’ but stops short of attack on Trump’s tariffs – as it happened

China says trade and tariff wars have no winners, and trade concerns will be resolved through ‘equal dialogue’

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China’s Ministry of Commerce held a briefing at 3pm today, just hours after US President Donald Trump declared a trade war with the world.
The action includes a further 34 per cent tariffs on imports from China, raising American tariffs on China to 54 per cent.
In a statement on Thursday morning, the ministry accused the US of “typical unilateral bullying” and vowed to take resolute countermeasures. It also said Beijing would urge Washington to remove the tariffs and solve disputes through dialogue.

The Ministry of Commerce has ended its regular press briefing without further overt reference to Donald Trump’s tariff announcement overnight.

During the 16-minute press conference, the ministry’s spokesman did not comment on the new reciprocal tariffs during the press conference despite the ministry issuing an earlier statement saying it will retaliate to the US’ “bullying” actions.
It slammed US “unilateralism and protectionism” throughout the press conference, while pledging to deepen trade talks with the EU, Japan and South Korea.

On the prospect of future trade talks with the US following the US tariff measures, the ministry said China and the US had been “in communications” on their trade concerns, and would resolve their concerns through “equal dialogues”.

Meanwhile, in response to the reciprocal tariffs, the Chinese foreign ministry said in its daily press conference that trade and tariff wars have “no winners” and “protectionism leads nowhere”.