By Liu Yang and Zhang Han–
The US hegemonic move in the name of “reciprocity” serves its selfish interests at the expense of other countries’ legitimate interests and puts “America first” over international rules. This is a typical move of unilateralism, protectionism and economic bullying, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Monday.
Lin made the remarks as the world was hit by the US’ announcement of sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs, with global stock markets, including those in the US, experiencing a sustained decline on what is being called “Black Monday.”
US stocks were slammed for a third day on Monday as the White House remained defiant even after US President Donald Trump’s rollout of shockingly high tariff rates on most key US trading partners has caused a market meltdown, CNBC reported on Monday.
Stocks mounted a short-lived rally shortly after the open that took the Dow Jones Industrial average into positive territory. Speculation of some sort of tariff pause circulated on trading floors and social media and may have contributed to the pop. The White House told CNBC that any talk of a 90-day pause was “fake news.”
At 10:39 am on Monday (US local time), Dow fell 2.60 percent, S&P 500 lost 2.27 percent, while Nasdaq down 2.06 percent, according to Reuters.
President Donald Trump posted for investors not to panic, coining a new term for a party “based on Weak and Stupid people,” called a “PANICAN,” just minutes before stocks opened on Monday, according to ABC News.
Internationally, European stock index futures also saw a drop on Monday, with STOXX 50 futures and DAX futures once falling more than 5 percent.
On Monday, South Korea’s KOSPI plummeted by 5.57 percent, Australia’s S&P ASX 200 Index also declined 4.23 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index fell by 7.34 percent, and the Shenzhen Component Index dropped by 9.66 percent.
China’s Central Huijin Investment said on Monday that it firmly believes in the promising prospects of China’s capital market and fully recognizes the current investment value of A shares, according to a notice on its official website.
The state-owned investment company said that it has recently increased holdings of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), will continue to do so in the future, and will resolutely maintain the stable operation of the capital market, per the notice.
On the same day, China’s Foreign Ministry extensively responded to the US tariff policy, reaffirming its stance in opposing the US abuse of tariff measures and upholding true multilateralism.
At Monday’s press conference, Lin noted that the US hegemonic move in the name of “reciprocity” serves its selfish interests at the expense of other countries’ legitimate interests and puts “America first” over international rules. This is a typical move of unilateralism, protectionism and economic bullying. China has issued the Chinese Government’s Position on Opposing US Abuse of Tariffs to express our serious and just attitude.
Analysis of WTO data shows that in light of the uneven economic development and strengths, the US tariff hikes will further widen the wealth gap among countries and less developed countries will feel a heavier blow. This gravely hurts the effort for realizing the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Lin said.
The US tariffs with differentiated rates violate the WTO principle of non-discrimination, severely disrupt the international trade order and the security and stability of the global industrial and supply chains, severely undermine the multilateral trading system, severely hinder global economic recovery, and will certainly be rejected by the international community, Lin noted.
Uncertainty spreads
As the EU faces 25 percent import tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles, as well as “reciprocal” tariffs of 20 percent for almost all other goods, the bloc is reportedly seeking unity in approving a first set of targeted countermeasures on up to $28 billion of US imports, according to Reuters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday, and faces thorny negotiations as Israel faces economic threats from Trump’s tariffs, Washington Post reported on Monday. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Monday the government will continue to ask Trump to lower tariffs against Japan, according to Reuters.
Within the US, some consumers also told the Global Times about concerns that their living expenses have been rising as a result of the tariffs.
“Groceries have become super expensive for a while and I cannot imagine how it will be in the future with all the tariffs,” a PhD candidate at Harvard University told the Global Times on condition of anonymity.
A man based in Pittsburg surnamed Lin said some of his friends recently purchased electronic devices or cars out of fear of price hikes due to tariffs. The US depends so much on imports that if the tariffs go ahead as announced, it will be “a nightmare”. People have been hoarding toilet paper and other daily necessities that “don’t expire” over the last weekend, Lin told the Global Times.
Our pay won’t have a 34 percent increase for sure, so the tariffs will have an impact on everyone in a negative way, Lin said.
“From global stock markets plummeting to US consumers stocking up, these are the direct effects of the US’ unilateral moves, and the outlook for the world economy is bleak due to the unpredictable effects brought by the US new tariff policy,” He Weiwen, a senior fellow at the Center for China and Globalization, told the Global Times on Monday.
But the US government ignores the fact that the global supply chain is an integrated whole, and US consumers benefit from it, so the ultimate victims of tariffs are ordinary Americans, He noted.
End of era of globalization?
According to a report by Fox News, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to announce Monday that he understands the rationale behind Donald Trump’s tariffs and that the West is entering a new economic era. “The world has changed, globalization is over and we are now in a new era,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement to the Sunday Times.
“Has the era of globalization ended? The answer is no,” said Zhou Mi, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.
He told the Global Times that some basic elements of economic globalization, such as the development of technology and the interconnection of countries, have not changed despite the non-compliance of the US, noting that China has always been the advocate, promoter and implementer of globalization.
During the Monday press conference, Lin Jian noted that open cooperation represents the trend of history and mutual benefit is what the people want. Development is a universal right of all countries, not an exclusive privilege of a few.
Countries need to uphold the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefit, remain committed to true multilateralism, jointly oppose unilateralism and protectionism of all forms, safeguard the international order with the UN at its core, and uphold the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its center, Lin noted.
Lin said that vast majority of countries in the world that uphold fairness and justice will choose to stand on the right side of history, make choices that are in line with their own interests, and jointly oppose all forms of unilateralism, protectionism, and economic bullying. China is also willing to work with all parties to uphold true multilateralism, jointly safeguard the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core, and defend international fairness and justice, the spokesperson noted.
The Chinese government’s position on opposing US abuse of tariffs was released on Saturday. “As openness and cooperation is the trend of history, the world will not and should not retreat to mutual isolation and division,” the statement said. Mutual benefits and win-win outcomes reflect the common aspirations of all people, while beggar-thy-neighbor economic bullying will ultimately backfire.
“It is the shared responsibility of the international community to make economic globalization more open, inclusive, universally beneficial and balanced,” it said.
