Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang speaks during COP29 on November 12, 2024.
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BEIJING – Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang warned there are “no winners” in a trade war as the world’s second-largest economy faces the possibility of tariffs under Donald Trump’s newly inaugurated administration.
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The deputy prime minister began his speech largely with a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Davos speech in 2017, which took place just days before Trump headed to the White House to begin his first term.
After his second inauguration on Monday, Trump said the US could impose tariffs on Mexico and Canada as early as February. On China, the returning US president indicated that tariffs could be a way to pressure the country to force Beijing-based ByteDance to sell TikTok, whose future availability in the US is now in doubt.
“If we wanted to make a deal with TikTok, and it was a good deal, and China didn’t approve it, I think ultimately they would approve it, because we would put tariffs on China,” Trump said. “I’m not saying I would, but you certainly could.”
Ding, who said he was going to Davos for the second time, is one of China’s four vice premiers. The Chinese economy has suffered from subdued consumption and a slump in the real estate sector. Despite this, the country’s GDP officially grew 5% last year, following a series of stimulus announcements that began in late September.
This latest news item is being updated.