China says ‘market has spoken’ after US tariffs spark selloff

BEIJING, April 5 (Reuters) – China said on Saturday “the market has spoken” in rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, and called on Washington for “equal-footed consultation” after global markets’ dramatic reaction to the trade levies, which drew Chinese retaliation.

Several Chinese commerce associations in industries from healthcare and textiles to electronics also issued statements on Saturday calling for unity in exploring alternative markets and warning that the tariffs would worsen inflation in the U.S.

“The market has spoken,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said in a post on Facebook on Saturday morning. He also posted a picture capturing Friday’s falls on U.S. markets.

Trump introduced additional 34% tariffs on Chinese goods as part of steep levies imposed on most U.S. trade partners, bringing the total duties on China this year to 54%.

Trump also closed a trade loophole that had allowed low-value packages from China to enter the U.S. duty-free.

This prompted sweeping retaliation from China on Friday, including extra levies of 34% on all U.S. goods and export curbs on some rare earths, escalating the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

Global stock markets plummeted following China’s retaliation and Trump’s comments on Friday that he would not change course, extending sharp losses that followed Trump’s initial tariff announcement earlier in the week and marking the biggest losses since the pandemic. For the week, the S&P 500 was down 9%.

“Now is the time for the U.S. to stop doing the wrong things and resolve the differences with trading partners through equal-footed consultation,” Guo wrote in English.

China’s chamber of commerce representing traders in food products called on “China’s food and agricultural products import and export industry to unite and strengthen cooperation to jointly explore domestic and foreign markets.”

The metals and chemicals traders’ chamber said the tariffs “will push up the import cost for U.S. importers and the consumption cost for consumers, exacerbate domestic inflation in the U.S., and increase the possibility of a U.S. recession.”