A Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson on Thursday urged the United States to completely abandon its erroneous practice of unilaterally imposing additional tariffs.

At a regular news conference, spokesperson He Yongqian noted that the U.S. Court of International Trade on May 28 ruled that the global, retaliatory and so-called “fentanyl” tariffs were illegal and ordered their withdrawal and permanent cessation.

“China has consistently held that there are no winners in trade wars and that protectionism leads nowhere,” he said.

Since implementing its unilateral tariffs, the United States has not resolved any of its own problems.

“Instead, these measures have seriously disrupted the order of the international economy and trade and severely interfered with business operations and people’s consumption,” he said.

The spokesperson emphasised that the tariffs had harmed others without benefiting the U.S. itself and that they triggered significant domestic opposition within the United States.

The spokesperson also noted that since the China-U.S. Economic and Trade Meeting in Geneva, the two sides maintained communication on trade concerns at multiple levels in various bilateral and multilateral settings.

He said recently, China repeatedly engaged with the United States regarding Washington’s abuse of export control measures in the field of semiconductors.

He added that China once again urges the United States to immediately correct its erroneous practices, end its discriminatory restrictive measures against China, and work with China to maintain the consensus reached at the high-level Geneva talks. 

(Xinhua/NAN)