Xi says China ‘not afraid’ as Beijing raises tariffs on US goods to 125% in latest escalation of trade war

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has said his nation is “not afraid,” in his first public comment on the escalating trade war with the United States, as Beijing raised tariffs on US goods to 125%.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has said his nation is “not afraid,” in his first public comment on the escalating trade war with the United States, as Beijing raised tariffs on US goods to 125%. The tariff hike is the latest in a tit-for-tat battle between the world’s two largest economies, after Trump raised tariffs on China to 145%. However, China has indicated it does not intend to go higher than 125%, saying it would be meaningless to engage in further escalation. “The successive imposition of excessively high tariffs on China by the US has become nothing more than a numbers game, with no real economic significance,” a spokesperson for China’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement Friday. “It merely further exposes the US practice of weaponizing tariffs as a tool of bullying and coercion, turning itself into a joke,” the spokesperson added. The trade war between the world’s two economic superpowers has tanked international markets and fueled fears of a global recession. “There are no winners in a trade war, and going against the world will only lead to self-isolation,” Xi told Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Beijing on Friday, according to state broadcaster CCTV.