No one will win in a tariff war, Chinese leader Xi Jinping warns

SCMP | April 11, 2025, 2:49 a.m. | Original

Xi Jinping and Pedro Sanchez pictured ahead of their meeting in Beijing on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE

There are no winners in a tariff war and China is not afraid of oppression, Chinese President Xi Jinping told visiting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday.

Xi was speaking during his first meeting with a foreign leader since the tit-for-tat tariff clashes between Beijing and Washington started.

In a direct appeal to the European Union , said China and the bloc should shoulder their international responsibilities and “jointly resist unilateral bullying”.

After the series of back-and-forth tariff salvoes, Washington has imposed a 145 per cent tariff on Chinese imports this year, bringing the effective tariff rate to about 156 per cent. Meanwhile, Beijing’s new levy on US goods has risen to 84 per cent, also on top of earlier-imposed tariffs.

“There are no winners in the tariff war and standing against the world ultimately results in self-isolation,” Xi said, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Trade war puts China’s corporate earnings recovery at risk, Morgan Stanley says Autonomous or independent, Greenland should stay away from America