‘Do not even think about it’: Beijing refuses to give in to Trump’s latest threat on trade tariffs
- Defiant China says effect of increased tariffs would be ‘manageable and foreseeable’
Beijing will not make concessions in trade talks in response to Donald Trump’s latest tariff threats, Chinese state media said in a commentary published a day after the US president announced increases in duties on Chinese goods.
“Things we think are advantageous for us, we will do it even without anyone asking,” People’s Daily reported on its WeChat account on Tuesday.
“Things that are unfavourable to us, no matter how you ask, we will not take any step back. Do not even think about it.”
The commentary was first published through Taoran Notes,, a social media account used by Beijing to signal the leadership’s thinking and manage domestic expectations.
The piece was the first official Chinese opinion piece since Trump went on Twitter and announced plans to more than double the tariffs on US$200 billion worth of Chinese goods because trade talks were going on “too slowly” for his liking.
His tweet, published hours before Asian markets opened on Monday, led to Chinese stock indexes posting their biggest daily losses in three years.
However, there was no news of the tweet on Chinese state and major media outlets. Posts that involved screenshots of Trump’s tweets were censored on social media platform WeChat.