China said Tuesday it will “fight to the end” if President Donald Trump imposes an additional 50% tariff on Chinese goods, as many countries rush to negotiate trade with the United States.
If the plan is fully implemented, the total tariffs on goods imported into the U.S. from China would be as much as 104%. In response, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said China “firmly opposes” Trump’s tariff threats, calling its previous countermeasures “entirely justified.”
“If the U.S. insists in its own way, China will fight to the end,” the ministry said in a statement Tuesday, adding that Trump’s threat to escalate tariffs on China is a “mistake upon a mistake.”
NBC News reached out to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment on Trump’s threat of an additional 50% tariff but did not immediately receive a response.
Trump threatened the new 50% duty on China, effective Wednesday, if Beijing doesn’t withdraw its 34% tariffs on the all U.S. goods by Tuesday, which China imposed in retaliation to the levies announced last week by the Trump administration on Chinese goods.
“Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday. “Negotiations with other countries, which have also requested meetings, will begin taking place immediately.”
Beijing’s retaliatory tariffs are scheduled to take effect Thursday.
The commerce ministry urged the U.S. to cancel all unilateral tariff measures against China and resolve trade disputes through dialogue.
“Pressure and threats are not the correct way to deal with China,” it said. “China reiterates that there are no winners in a trade war, and protectionism leads nowhere.”
“China will resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard its own interests,” the ministry added.
Trump said Sunday that China could get a reduction in tariffs if it approves a deal to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations. He confirmed reports that China and the U.S. had been “pretty close” to a deal on the video sharing app, but said Beijing backed out due to the additional 34% tariff he announced on Chinese goods last week.
“If I gave a little cut in tariffs, they’d approve that deal in 15 minutes, which shows you the power of tariffs,” he told reporters on Air Force One.
TikTok’s China-based owner ByteDance said Saturday that it is still in negotiations with the U.S. government and has not reached any agreement.