China will uphold true multilateralism with all parties and defend international fairness and justice, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday, while commenting the sweeping tariffs imposed by the United States.
The Donald Trump administration announced a new set of levies on Wednesday, imposing a 10-percent baseline tariff on imports from all trading partners, with higher rates targeting certain nations. These "reciprocal tariffs" are set to take effect on April 5 and April 9, respectively.
"The wrong practice by the United States to abuse tariffs has seriously violated the legitimate rights and interests of all countries, seriously violated the rules of the World Trade Organization, seriously damaged the rules-based multilateral trading system, and seriously impacted the stability of the global economic order," said Lin Jian, the spokesman, at a press conference in Beijing, in response to a media query concerning China's cooperation with less developed countries under tariff shock.
"The vast majority of countries in the world who believe in fairness and justice will choose to stand on the right side of history, make choices that are in line with their own interests, and jointly oppose all forms of unilateralism, protectionism and economic bullying. China is willing to work with all parties to uphold true multilateralism, jointly maintain the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core, and defend international fairness and justice," said Lin.
China to uphold true multilateralism with all parties against US tariffs: spokesman
