BEIJING: China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao told the head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that US tariffs will “inflict serious harm” on poor nations, according to a ministry statement released Saturday.

Washington and Beijing have been trading salvos of increasingly higher tariffs this month, raising fears of an intensifying trade war between the world’s two largest economies that has sent global markets into a tailspin.

Economists warn that the disruption in trade between the tightly integrated US and Chinese economies will increase prices for consumers and could spark a global recession.

“These US ‘reciprocal tariffs’ will inflict serious harm on developing countries, especially the least developed countries, and could even trigger a humanitarian crisis,” Wang told WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in a call on Friday, the statement said.

“The United States has continuously introduced tariff measures, bringing enormous uncertainty and instability to the world, causing chaos both internationally and domestically within the US,” Wang added.

Beijing said that its 125 per cent tariffs on US goods would take effect on Saturday — almost matching the staggering 145pc levies imposed by Washington on Chinese goods entering the United States.

But China indicated that it would ignore any further levies by US President Donald Trump because, Beijing said, it no longer makes economic sense for importers to buy from America.

China also said it would file a lawsuit with the WTO over the latest round of levies and dismissed Trump’s mounting brinkmanship as a “joke” and a “numbers game”.

Beijing’s retaliation sparked fresh market volatility, with stocks seesawing, gold prices surging and US government bonds under pressure.

Trade between the two economic rivals is vast, with sales of Chinese goods to the United States last year totalling more than $500 billion — 16.4pc of the country’s exports, according to Beijing’s customs data.

Trump insisted that his tariff policy was “doing really well” despite the new hikes from China.

Earlier this week he postponed punishing levies on multiple trade partners for three months after trillions of dollars were wiped off global markets.

The White House said that Trump remained “optimistic” about a deal with Beijing, and added that 15 other countries have offers “on the table” during his 90-day pause in their tariffs.

Tariff talks

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s government on Saturday said it held first tariff discussions with the United States and expected more talks to build “strong and stable” trade ties.

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te said the island was on “the first negotiating list of the US government” as he looks to shield its exporters from a 32pc tariff.

Taiwan now faces a 10pc tariff and Lai said talks would seek to strike a deal with Washington to bring that down to zero.

Taiwan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said on Saturday that Taiwanese officials held a video conference the day prior with “relevant US officials” without identifying them.

The two sides “exchanged views on Taiwan-US reciprocal tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers, and a number of other economic and trade issues including export controls”, it added.

Taiwan’s trade surplus with the United States is the seventh highest of any country, reaching US$73.9bn in 2024.

Around 60pc of its exports to the United States are information and communications technology products, including semiconductors. But chips were excluded from Trump’s new tariffs.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2025