China on Wednesday vowed to take countermeasures with "firm will" and "abundant means" following U.S. tariff hikes, while urging dialogue to resolve respective concerns and stabilize bilateral ties.

"I want to emphasize that there is no winner in a trade war, and China does not want a trade war, but the Chinese government will by no means sit by when the legitimate rights and interests of its people are being hurt and deprived," said an official with the Ministry of Commerce.

The official made the remarks when responding to media questions regarding a white paper released Wednesday by the State Council Information Office on China's position on some issues concerning China-U.S. economic and trade relations.

Over the 46 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, bilateral trade and economic ties have developed rapidly. The trade between the two countries has surged from less than 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in 1979 to nearly 688.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2024, according to the white paper.

Noting that the successes of China and the United States are opportunities rather than threats for each other, the official said that China hopes the United States will immediately remove its unilateral imposition of tariffs, and work with China to strengthen dialogue, manage differences, and promote cooperation.

China is willing to communicate with the U.S. side on key bilateral economic and trade issues, address their respective concerns through dialogue and consultations on an equal footing, and jointly advance the steady, healthy and sustainable development of China-U.S. economic and trade relations, the official noted.

The official said that it is a typical act of unilateralism, protectionism and economic bullying for the United States to take tariffs as a weapon of exerting maximum pressure and pursuing self-interest.

Under the guise of pursuing "reciprocity" and "fairness," the United States is engaging in zero-sum games and, in essence, seeking "America First" and "American exceptionalism," the official said.

The U.S. side is exploiting tariffs to subvert the existing international economic and trade order, prioritizing U.S. interests above the global common good, and sacrificing the legitimate interests of countries worldwide to serve its own hegemonic agenda, according to the official.

Noting that the United States is also deliberately severing the well-established global industrial and supply chains and breaking the market-oriented free trade rules, the official said these practices seriously interrupt the economic development of countries around the globe and affect the long-term stable growth of the world economy.

"It is well proven by history and facts that by raising tariffs, the United States will not solve its own problems," the official said, noting that instead, it would lead to drastic fluctuations in the financial market, drive up the U.S. inflationary pressure, weaken its industrial foundation, and increase its risk of economic recession, and ultimately, backfire.

As the world's largest developing and developed countries respectively, China and the United States are highly complementary in the fields of natural endowment, human resources, market, capital, and technology, among others, and can achieve mutual benefit and win-win outcomes, the official said.

The white paper came as rising unilateralism and protectionism in the United States have significantly impeded normal economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

Since the beginning of trade friction in 2018, the U.S. side has imposed tariffs on Chinese exports worth more than 500 billion U.S. dollars, and has continuously implemented policies aimed at containing and suppressing China. Recently, the United States levied comprehensive additional tariffs on Chinese products, including tariffs citing the fentanyl issue as the pretext, "reciprocal tariffs," and an additional 50 percent on existing tariffs.

These measures -- revealing the isolationist and coercive nature of U.S. conduct -- run counter to the principles of the market economy and multilateralism, and will have serious repercussions for China-U.S. economic and trade relations, the white paper stated.

In this context, the Chinese government issued the document to clarify the facts surrounding China-U.S. economic and trade relations, systematically outline its policy stance on related issues, expose the harm caused by unilateralism and protectionism to bilateral economic and trade ties, and demonstrate its firm resolve to safeguard national interests and uphold the multilateral trading system, the official added.

The Chinese side has always maintained that China-U.S. economic and trade relations are mutually beneficial and win-win in nature, the white paper noted.

As two major countries at different stages of development with distinct economic systems, it is natural for China and the United States to have differences and frictions in their economic and trade cooperation, according to the document.

In recent years, the U.S. trade deficit has increased globally, while the proportion attributable to China has decreased. Facts show that raising tariffs on China has not succeeded in narrowing the U.S. trade deficit. Instead, it has raised import costs and further widened the deficit, the official said.

The trade balance in goods between China and the United States is both an inevitable result of the structural issues in the U.S. economy and a consequence of the comparative advantages and international division of labor between the two countries, the official added.

The official said that China will continue to tap the potential in import and transform its vast market into a global marketplace shared by the world, thereby injecting new momentum into global economic growth. 

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