China's "economic resilience" will leave US consumers to bear brunt of tariffs: SCO official

A top official from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) believes China has the resilience to ride out the current economic storm and warned that it's the American consumers who will ultimately bear the greatest burden of the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

Sohail Khan, deputy secretary general of SCO secretariat, who is currently in north China's Tianjin Municipality for a supporting event of the upcoming SCO Summit, which is set to be held in the city this autumn, gave his assessment of the tariff situation in an exclusive interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN) on Wednesday.

The latest trade dispute erupted after U.S. President Donald Trump last week signed an executive order on so-called "reciprocal tariffs," imposing a 10-percent "minimum baseline tariff" before unveiling higher rates on certain trading partners.

The United States moved to increase tariffs on imports from China to 104 percent on Wednesday, which saw China respond by raising tariffs on American goods to 84 percent, prompting Trump to escalate further by imposing a 125-percent tariff on Chinese imports.

Despite the escalating tensions, Khan highlighted China's economic resilience, stating that nations worldwide, including those in the West, fully recognize the crucial importance of the Chinese market.

"China has a very strong economic resilience. It has a huge domestic market. Everybody in the West, including the United States, they think that the Chinese market cannot be ignored," Khan said.

Though concerns are rising amid the uncertainty, Khan believes the current trade challenges will prove to be temporary, but warned it is the U.S. consumers who will suffer the greatest consequences of the tariffs.

"That's why I'm saying that these whole headwinds which are coming for the time being, are not going to be long term. And probably because China has taken the countermeasures that is going to have some impact on the American economy also. So we let's see. The people of United States and are going to face the real burden of these tariffs," he said.

China's "economic resilience" will leave US consumers to bear brunt of tariffs: SCO official

Colombian President Gustavo Petro mobilized a large-scale march in the capital Bogota on International Workers' Day, urging legislators to approve a national referendum on labor reforms.

Petro mobilized Colombians to march in support of the referendum after his initiatives faced legislative setbacks in Congress. The reforms, central to his administration's social transformation agenda, were recently defeated in the Senate amid strong opposition.

Seizing the symbolic timing of International Workers' Day, Petro reignited efforts to fulfill long-delayed campaign promises.

"(I come to this march to support) the labor reforms, the pension reforms, the health reforms," said Carlos, a citizen.

"The march has been peaceful. People are happy, and their passion is running high," said Rocio Duzant, another citizen.

Petro asked citizens to march all the way to Congress to pressure legislators into approving the national referendum, known in Colombia as a popular consultation. The proposed referendum would ask voters whether they agree or disagree with reforms to Colombia's labor laws.

"Since congress did not approve, the people are the ones who should decide, they should approve, they should be the ones to say yes to these labor reforms, through a popular consultation," said Sandra Jaimes, a Colombian senator.

The labor reforms aim to provide workers with increased access to health benefits and overtime pay.

"(In Colombia,) there are more workers without rights than workers with rights. Many don't get paid health benefits, pension, security. What we are looking for is labor stability, so that those thousands of workers can feel it," said Jaime Dussan, a former Colombian senator.

Colombians rally in capital on Int’l Workers' Day, urging labor reforms