China slams US for ‘Double Standards’ after Trump announces 100% tariff hike

Commerce Ministry accuses US of undermining dialogue with “aggressive economic measures"

October 12, 2025

Trade Tensions Surge: China Condemns Trump’s 100% Tariff Move

Beijing urges restraint, calls tariffs “not the right approach to engaging with China

Beijing on Sunday accused the United States of exhibiting “double standards” after President Donald Trump announced an additional 100 percent tariff on Chinese goods, escalating tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

“The relevant US statement is a typical example of ‘double standards’,” an unnamed spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement published online.

Trump said on Friday that the new levies, set to take effect on November 1, were in response to what he described as “extraordinarily aggressive” export restrictions imposed by China on rare-earth minerals. He also warned that a planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month could be cancelled.

Beijing, in its response, accused Washington of “continuously escalating” economic measures against China since September, adding that such actions had “severely harmed China’s interests and seriously undermined the atmosphere of the economic and trade talks between the two sides.”

“Threatening high tariffs at every turn is not the right approach to engaging with China,” the ministry added.

The latest move adds to the already strained US-China trade relationship, which has seen repeated rounds of tariffs and countermeasures, impacting global supply chains and market stability.

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