China calls on India to jointly oppose US 'abuse of tariffs'

Let’s stand together to overcome the difficulties, says Chinese mission

New Delhi: China on Tuesday reached out to India as its trade war with the United States escalated.

China and India should stand together against the “abuse of tariffs” by the United States, Beijing’s diplomatic mission in New Delhi suggested.

 “China-India economic and trade relationship is based on complementarity and mutual benefit,” Yu Jing, the spokesperson of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in New Delhi, posted on X. “Facing the US abuse of tariffs, which deprives countries, especially Global South countries, of their right to development, the two largest developing countries (China and India) should stand together to overcome the difficulties.”

Beijing vowed to “fight till the end” after President Donald Trump threatened to impose an additional 50 per cent tariff on China’s exports to the US, in case President Xi Jinping’s government did not withdraw the 34% counter-tariff on the US exports to China. Xi’s government had slapped the counter-tariff in the wake of the Trump Administration’s move last week to impose a 34 per cent import duty on China’s exports to the US. Trump gave China until Tuesday either to scrap its countermeasure against the US or face the 50 per cent tax.

“China's economy is underpinned by a system that ensures steady growth and produces positive spillovers. Chinese manufacturing is built on a complete and continually upgrading industrial system, sustained investment in R&D, and a strong focus on innovation,” Beijing’s diplomatic mission in New Delhi said in a statement on X on Tuesday.

China is a firm defender of economic globalization and multilateralism, which has injected strong impetus into the world economy, contributing to around 30 per cent of global growth annually on average, said Yu. “We will continue to work with the rest of the world to safeguard the multilateral trade system with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its core.”

Trump on April 2 issued his Executive Order on Reciprocal Tariffs, imposing additional ad-valorem duties ranging from 10 per cent to 50 per cent on imports from all trading partners. The baseline duty of 10 per cent came into effect from April 5, and the remaining country-specific additional ad-valorem duty will be effective from April 9. The executive order imposed an additional duty of 27 per cent on India’s exports to the US.

The Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), a think-tank based in New Delhi, estimated that India’s exports to the US might decline by 6.41 per cent – or about $5.76 billion – in 2025 as a result of the tariff tirade of Trump.

New Delhi, however, avoided getting into a war of words with Trump’s administration in Washington, D C, unlike Canada and China.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, spoke over the phone on Tuesday and discussed the bilateral trade relations.

The 47th US president hosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House on February 13, and the two leaders agreed to negotiate a trade agreement. They set the target to conclude negotiations, at least for the first part of the agreement, by fall 2025. Trump, however, continued his rants on India’s high tariffs on exports from the US.

 The US goods imports from India totalled $87.4 billion in 2024, 4.4 per cent or $3.7 billion more than in 2023. India imported goods worth $41.75 billion from the US in 2024. India was the destination of 2.02 per cent of exports in 2024. The US goods trade deficit with India was $45.6 billion in 2024, an increase of $2.3 billion (5.3per cent) over 2023.

New Delhi purportedly conveyed to Washington, D.C. that it was willing to consider slashing tariffs on 55 per cent of the US exports to India, worth about $23 billion.

 “Trade and tariff wars have no winners. All countries should uphold the principles of extensive consultation, practice true multilateralism, jointly oppose all forms of unilateralism and protectionism,” Yu, the spokesperson of Beijing’s diplomatic mission to New Delhi, said.