In another sign of warming ties between Beijing and New Delhi, Chinese ambassador Xu Feihong has expressed solidarity with India against the Donald Trump administration’s tariffs on Indian exports and likened the US to a “bully”.

Xu Feihong said China will stand with India to uphold the multilateral trading system at a time when the US is using tariffs to demand “exorbitant prices” from other countries, Hindustan Times earlier reported.

“The United States has imposed tariffs of up to 50 per cent on India, and it has even threatened for more. China firmly opposes this,” Xu Feihong said on Thursday during a discussion on the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin next week that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend.

“China will firmly stand with India to uphold the multilateral trading system, with the World Trade Organization at its core,” Xu added.

Xu’s statement comes as Beijing and New Delhi take steps to recalibrate their ties against the backdrop of their strained relations with the Trump administration.

The two neighbours this week agreed to explore demarcating their disputed border as Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi visited India on his first trip in three years.

Here’s how China has reacted to Trump tariffs

• China’s ‘overwhelming bullying’ statement: Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on Monday met with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar, and said both nations should expand cooperation amid “overwhelming bullying” and severe challenges to free trade. The statement added that India and China should expand cooperation and provide certainty for the world. It comes amid Donald Trump’s 25 per cent additional tariff threat against India for purchasing Russian crude oil. Jaishankar, on the other hand, said both neighbours want better relations, in the latest sign of a thaw between the Asian rivals as they push to normalise relations.
• Chinese ambassador’s ‘bully’ dig: Chinese ambassador Xu Feihong criticised US President Donald Trump on August 7, a day after the latter imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods. Taking a sharp swipe at Trump, Xu Feihong called him a “bully” and posted on social media X. “Give the bully an inch, he will take a mile,” the envoy wrote without mentioning any name. He also shared a snippet from a recent phone call between Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and the Brazilian president’s chief advisor.
• ‘Silence emboldens the bully’: On Thursday, Xu criticised Washington for using tariffs as “a bargaining chip to demand exorbitant prices from various countries” despite benefiting from free trade. “In the face of such acts, silence or compromise only emboldens the bully,” he said in his address to the event. He added that countries of the Global South were “highly concerned” about how the two Asian nations could work together and “take the lead to help developing countries overcome difficulties.” Xu reiterated his remarks in a post on X, where he expressed his appreciation to people “who have long cared for and supported China-India relations.”