In a significant development, China has strongly lashed out at US President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs over importing oil from Venezuela on Tuesday.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Guo Jiakun, stated: “China firmly opposes the US’ long-term abuse of illegal unilateral sanctions and so-called long-arm jurisdiction.”
Recently, Trump announced that he plans to impose 25% tariff on trade with US on those countries importing oil from Venezuela.
It merits a mention that has been a key source of funding as well as the single largest buyer of the Venezuela’s cure oil, taking more than 40% of its oil exports in February.
When the Chinese official was asked whether the country would stop importing oil from Venezuela following the high tariffs from the United States.
He responded by calling the US actions illegal which grossly interferes in other nations’ internal affairs.
He also remarked that there are no winners in trade or tariff war, arguing that the tariffs would only incur great losses on US consumers and businesses.
Earlier this month, Donald Trump announced high tariffs on multiple countries including Canada, Mexico, the European Union, South Korean, China and Brazil in order to address trade imbalances.
“For years, these countries have been collecting tariffs from us. Now it’s our turn,” said Donald Trump.
Trump’s policies harken back to his broader protectionist agenda in which high taxes are imposed on imports from all countries. His policies have been widely criticised by leaders around the world with Canada calling snap elections to chalk out national strategy to protect itself from US tariffs.
