Chinese Ambassador Xu Feihong took a swipe at US President Donald Trump on Thursday after the latter announced 50% tariffs against India. The remarks came even as the POTUS teased the possibility of additional levies against Beijing for its continued purchase of Russian oil. Trump has also indicated plans to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year as the two countries work to iron out a trade deal.
“Give the bully an inch, he will take a mile,” the Chinese envoy to India wrote on X.
He also shared an excerpt from recent talks between Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and Celso Amorim -(the chief advisor to Brazilian president Lula) to underscore his point. The post quoted Yi as saying that using tariffs to suppress other nations was a violation of the UN charter and weakened the rules of the World Trade Organization.
“Using tariffs as a weapon to suppress other countries violates the UN Charter, undermines WTO rules and is both unpopular and unsustainable,” he opined.
US-China trade war
The US had engaged in an escalating tit-for-tat trade war with Beijing earlier this year — with US raising tariffs as high as 145%. Meanwhile, China had capped the number at 125% — insisting that it was meaningless to engage in further escalation. The two countries have since reached preliminary deals to end escalating tit-for-tat tariffs and a cut-off of rare earth minerals. China is now facing an August 12 deadline to reach a durable tariff agreement with the US administration.
“He asked for a meeting, and I’ll end up having a meeting before the end of the year, most likely, if we make a deal. If we don’t make a deal, I’m not going to have a meeting. I mean, you know, what’s the purpose of meeting if we’re not going to make a deal? But we’re getting very close to a deal. We’re getting along with China very well,” he told CNBC during an interview earlier this week.
Additional sanctions?
Trump imposed an additional 25% tariff against India for its continued purchase of Russian oil on Wednesday — bringing its total levy to a whopping 50% from the end of August. The POTUS has also broached the possiblity of similar sanctions against other countries in the coming days. According to data by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air for June 2025, China has bought 47% of Russia’s crude exports, followed by India (38%), the EU (6%), and Turkiye (6%). CERA is an independent research organisation registered as a nonprofit in Finland.
“It may happen, I don’t know, I can’t tell you yet, we did it with India and we are doing it probably with a couple of others, one of them could be China,” Trump said during a news conference in the White House.
(With inputs from agencies)