On April 11, Ambassador Yang Xiaokun published a signed article titled "A self-defeating trade war will never win" on Public Eye. Here's the full text.

On 2 April, despite the extensive opposition of the international community, the U.S. announced that it will impose “reciprocal” tariffs ranging from 10% to 50% on all its trading partners. The tariffs imposed on Lesotho topped the list, reaching 50%. The U.S. uses tariff as a weapon to exert maximum pressure for its own selfish gains, which severely hurts the legitimate rights and interests of all countries, violates the WTO rules, sabotages the rules-based multilateral trading regime, and destabilizes the global economic order. It is a typical practice of unilateralism, protectionism and bullying. Although the U.S. announced “a 90 day PAUSE” on 9 April for 75 countries that did not take countermeasures to the U.S. and the tariffs would be brought down to a universal 10% during the pause, this development has left business and investors bewildered about what the U.S. is attempting to achieve.

China has taken necessary measures to firmly safeguard its legitimate and lawful rights and interests. China's State Council Information Office on Wednesday released a white paper titled "China's Position on Some Issues Concerning China-U.S. Economic and Trade Relations" to clarify the facts about China-U.S. economic and trade relations, and elaborate the position of the Chinese side on relevant issues. As two major countries at different stages of development with distinct economic systems, it is natural for China and the U.S. to have differences and frictions in their economic and trade cooperation. It is crucial to respect each other's core interests and major concerns, and find proper solutions to resolve the disputes. Pressure, threats, and blackmail are not the right way to deal with China. If the U.S. truly wants to engage in dialogue, it should demonstrate an attitude of equality, respect, and reciprocity. But if the U.S. ignores the interests of both countries and the international community and insists on provoking a trade and tariff war, China's response will continue to the end.

There is an old Chinese saying, “a just cause enjoys abundant support while an unjust one finds little support.” China on Wednesday voiced grave concerns over the U.S.’ "reciprocal tariffs" and their detrimental impacts, urging the U.S. to comply with the WTO rules to avoid adverse impact on global economic stability and the multilateral trading system at the first annual session of the WTO Council for Trade in Goods at Geneva. China's statement resonated well, with 46 WTO members echoing its stance during the meeting, expressing concerns with the U.S.’ “reciprocal tariffs” and calling on the U.S. to comply with the WTO rules.

History and reality have repeatedly demonstrated that no winners emerge in trade and tariff wars, and protectionism leads nowhere. As Chinese President Xi Jinping pointed out, while meeting with representatives of the international business community, that China has been a major contributor and anchor of stability for global growth for many years. China is advancing high-standard opening up and taking solid steps to expand institutional opening up, such as that of rules, regulations, management, and standards. President Xi emphasized that multilateralism is the only choice for addressing global challenges, and economic globalization is an unstoppable trend of history. China upholds true multilateralism, promotes universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, actively participates in global economic governance, and is committed to building an open world economy. China's door will only open wider. 

The large-scale tariffs imposed by the U.S. this time strike some vulnerable economies designated as the least developed countries by the UN. In a stark contrast, during the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held last year, President Xi solemnly announced that China will voluntarily and unilaterally open its market wider, and has decided to give all the least developed countries having diplomatic relations with china, including 33 countries in Africa, zero-tariff treatment for 100 percent tariff lines. This beneficial policy has already taken effect since 1 December, 2024, which will share China's development opportunities with African countries including Lesotho. Only half a year after the Beijing Summit, many early outcomes, such as the fingerprint examination laboratory, emergency food assistance, medical teams to Lesotho, Confucius Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology have been implemented, demonstrating China's principles of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith towards Africa and the distinctive characteristics of China-Lesotho cooperation, which is pragmatic, efficient, mutually beneficial and win-win. I would like to reiterate that China and Lesotho are strategic partners with a profound traditional friendship and long-term firm mutual support. No matter how the international landscape changes, China will enhance cooperation and coordination with Lesotho, bearing in mind interests of our two countries to jointly respond to various risks and challenges.

As China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, the choices made by countries, especially major countries, will determine the trajectory of our times and shape the future of the world. It is the shared responsibility of the international community to make economic globalization more open, inclusive, universally beneficial and balanced. China will stand firm on the right side of history and on the side of human progress, and a self-defeating trade war will never win.