China announced on Saturday that the market has rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and urged Washington to engage in “equal-footed consultation” in response to the global markets’ dramatic response to the trade levies, which prompted Chinese countermeasures

China announced on Saturday that the market has rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and urged Washington to engage in “equal-footed consultation” in response to the global markets’ dramatic response to the trade levies, which prompted Chinese retaliation.

Several Chinese commerce associations, spanning industries such as healthcare, textiles, and electronics, also released statements on Saturday. These statements urged for unity in the pursuit of alternative markets and cautioned that the tariffs would exacerbate inflation in the United States.

“The market has spoken,” stated Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, in a Facebook post on Saturday morning. Additionally, he uploaded an image that illustrated the declines in U.S. markets on Friday.

In addition to the steep levies imposed on the majority of U.S. trade partners, Trump implemented an additional 34% tariff on Chinese products, bringing the total tariffs on China this year to 54%.

A trade loophole that had permitted low-value shipments from China to enter the United States duty-free was also closed by Trump.

This led to a comprehensive response from China on Friday, which included the imposition of additional levies of 34% on all U.S. goods and the restriction of exports of certain rare earths. This escalated the trade conflict between the world’s two largest economies.

The global stock markets experienced a significant decline in response to China’s retaliation and Trump’s declaration on Friday that he would not alter his course. This extended the steep losses that had occurred following Trump’s initial tariff announcement earlier in the week and marked the largest losses since the pandemic. The S&P 500 experienced a 9% decline during the week.
Guo wrote in English, “The United States must cease its erroneous actions and resolve its disputes with trading partners through mutually beneficial consultation.”
China’s chamber of commerce, which represents traders in food products, has urged the “China’s food and agricultural products import and export industry to unite and strengthen cooperation to jointly explore domestic and foreign markets.”