VOA: China prepares for possible trade war as President Trump threatens to impose tariffs

China is bracing for possible tariffs after United States President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 10 percent tax on Chinese imports starting February 1.

At a regular press conference on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning underscored China's commitment to protecting its "national interests." "We have always believed that there are no winners in a trade war or tariff war," she said.

Following President Trump's statements, major Chinese stock market indices fell. Beijing's reaction came after Mr. Trump said his team was considering imposing 10 percent tariffs on Chinese imports because China "has been shipping fentanyl into the United States through Mexico and Canada." " Maybe February 1st, that's the date we're looking at," the US president told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.

President Trump's remarks came a day after it appeared he was holding off on imposing tariffs on imports from China. On Monday, the president directed federal agencies to review U.S. trade deficits and unfair trade practices with other countries.

On Chinese social media, the US President's threat was met with mixed reactions. Some netizens said the 10 percent tariff could be followed by a series of taxes imposed on Chinese goods, while others criticized Mr. Trump for being unpredictable and inconsistent with his decisions.

"Why is the United States getting into these problems? In the end, the one who will pay will be the American people, because if China does not export goods, Americans will no longer even have a Christmas tree," wrote Chinese internet user Fortune Ax Brother in a post on the Chinese social media platform Weibo.

Some analysts say the threat to impose tariffs on February 1 could be "a negotiating tactic" by the US President to force China to make concessions.

"Compared to the 25 percent tariffs that Mr. Trump has threatened to impose on Mexico and Canada, the possibility of imposing a 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports makes it seem like Mr. Trump is being restrained towards China," says Dexter Roberts, a fellow at the Atlantic Council.

In Mr. Roberts’s view, the threat reflects President Trump’s desire to “make some kind of deal” with Beijing. “If China makes what Mr. Trump sees as positive concessions for him and for the United States, it’s very likely that he won’t immediately give way to these tariffs,” Mr. Roberts told VOA.

While it remains unclear whether the United States will impose tariffs, some Chinese say their export businesses have already been affected by concerns about such a possibility.

"Even before President Trump's recent statements, some of our American customers had ordered a lot of goods after he won the election in November," a Chinese garment exporter surnamed Yuan in Shanghai, who asked to be identified only by his surname due to security concerns, told VOA.

As President Trump was expected to take office, American companies increased imports from China throughout the final months of 2024. Official Chinese customs data show that Chinese companies exported goods worth almost $50 billion to the United States in December 2024, marking a 10.7 percent increase compared to a year earlier.

To avoid United States tariffs, in recent years, some Chinese companies have shifted production to Southeast Asian or Latin American countries, such as Vietnam and Mexico.

"After Mr. Trump launched a trade war against China during his first term, some of my American customers asked my company to move production to Vietnam," a manager at an electronics manufacturing company with the surname Li, who asked to be identified only by his surname due to security concerns, told VOA.

Despite these preparations, experts say Chinese businesses will continue to face challenges in the event of a trade war by Mr. Trump against China during his second term. “Mr. Trump already has experience in launching a trade war against China, and the administration is considering targeting China’s efforts to evade U.S. tariffs, with the possibility of imposing tariffs on Southeast Asian countries or Mexico,” He Jiangbing, an independent China economics expert, told VOA.

Since China has relied heavily on exports to fuel its economic growth in recent years, Mr. Roberts says that tariffs that the United States may impose could seriously affect China's economic growth.

"China's export sector will be hit hard by the tariffs, and that means the entire Chinese economy will be hit hard," he told VOA.