China firmly opposes U.S. tariff threat, vows to safeguard interests

BEIJING, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- China firmly opposes the United States' threat of a further 10-percent tariff on goods imported from China on the pretext of fentanyl-related issues, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Friday.

If the United States persists, China will take all necessary countermeasures to protect China's legitimate rights and interests, an MOC spokesperson said in a statement.

While saying that China has taken note of the U.S. move, the spokesperson said that China had repeatedly stated that the unilateral imposition of extra tariffs violates WTO rules and undermines the multilateral trading system.

China is one of the countries that has the strictest drug control policies and highest levels of enforcement globally, and China has actively launched international drug control cooperation, including the United States, the spokesperson said.

However, the United States has repeatedly ignored objective facts, and has previously imposed an additional 10 percent tariff on China using a similar pretext and is now threatening to impose more tariffs once again.

Such actions are outright blame-shifting, which not only unhelpful to the resolving of its own problems but also likely to increase the burden on U.S. businesses and consumers while undermining the stability of global supply chains, the spokesperson said.

China hopes the U.S. side will not repeat its mistakes and return quickly to the right path of resolving differences through equitable dialogue, the spokesperson added.