Beijing has urged New Delhi to collaborate in opposing American trade policies, which it considers to be abusive
China has called on India to collaborate in opposing Washington’s new trade policies, which Beijing has described as “abusive.”
The outreach to the South Asian country follows US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a significant tariff increase that brings cumulative tariffs on Chinese imports to 104%.
Yu Jing, the spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in India, criticized Washington’s tariff actions in a social media post on Tuesday, stating that China’s “consistent economic growth,”“innovative capabilities,” and “strong manufacturing” sector have generated beneficial effects for the rest of the world.
Beijing has been reaching out to New Delhi to improve economic and people-to-people relations. Recently, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for Beijing and New Delhi to work more closely following a period of strained relations.
China supports economic globalization and multilateralism, contributing around 30% to global growth annually, and will continue to work with other countries to protect the multilateral trade system centered on the WTO, Yu wrote on X.
China's economy is underpinned by a system that ensures steady growth, and produces positive spillovers. Chinese manufacturing is built on a complete and continually upgrading industrial system, sustained investment in R&D, and a strong focus on innovation.
Yu suggested that China and India should work together to overcome the challenges posed by US tariffs, which she said hinder the development of countries, especially in the Global South.
The spokesperson emphasized that trade and tariff wars are detrimental to all parties involved, and that countries should instead promote multilateralism, consultation, and cooperation, while opposing unilateralism and protectionism. India faces 26% tariffs on goods exported to the US as part of Trump’s new measures. However, New Delhi has made it clear that it will not impose retaliatory tariffs.
Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has stated that India is actively engaging with the Trump administration to reach a tariff agreement. Speaking at the Rising Bharat Summit in Delhi on Wednesday, Jaishankar revealed that India’s approach to addressing the tariffs is to hold discussions with the US administration.
He noted that India has had more interactions with the US in the past six weeks than with all of Europe in the past few years. Jaishankar expressed caution about predicting the impact of the tariffs but mentioned that India is one of the few countries with which the US has an “understanding in principle” since Trump took office.
He added that India aims to negotiate a trade deal with the US by the fall of this year, and is maintaining an open and constructive dialogue with the American administration.
