CCTV News: A spokesperson for the Embassy in the United States answered reporters' questions about China's countermeasures against the US imposing tariffs on China.
Q: On February 4, Beijing time, the Tariff Commission of the State Council of China issued an announcement on imposing tariffs on some imported goods originating from the United States. At the same time, China filed a lawsuit at the WTO for the US to impose a 10% tariff on Chinese products. What do you think of this?
A: The US imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese products imported from the US on the grounds of fentanyl. China strongly dissatisfied with this and firmly opposed it. It has taken necessary countermeasures in accordance with relevant laws and regulations and the basic principles of international law, which are completely legitimate and reasonable. At the same time, China has filed a lawsuit with the WTO to firmly defend its legitimate rights and interests.
China is one of the countries with the strictest anti-drug policies and the most thoroughly implemented in the world. Fentanyl is a problem in the United States. In the humanitarian spirit, China has provided support for the United States to deal with the fentanyl issue. At the request of the US, China announced the formal registration of fentanyl substances in 2019, making it the first country in the world to formally register fentanyl substances. In recent years, China and the United States have carried out extensive practical cooperation in the field of drug control, and have made many visual progress in material control, intelligence exchange, case cooperation, online advertising cleaning, drug detection technology exchange, multilateral interaction, etc., with obvious results.
Reducing domestic drug demand and strengthening law enforcement cooperation are the fundamental solutions for the fentanyl crisis in the United States. The US should view and deal with its own fentanyl issue objectively and rationally, cherish China's goodwill, rather than threaten it with tariffs at any time. The unilateral tariff imposition of the US seriously violates WTO rules and is of bad nature. It is a typical unilateralism and trade protectionism practice. It undermines the foundation of economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States and will inevitably affect and damage the two sides' future cooperation on drug control issues.
China urges the US to correct its wrong practices, maintain a good situation in which Sino-US drug control cooperation is hard-won, and promote the stable, healthy and sustainable development of Sino-US relations.
