China on Thursday slammed the United States for doubling the tariffs on India to 50 per cent, saying that Beijing’s opposition to the abuse of tariffs has been consistent and clear.
The Chinese Foreign Minister criticised the Donald Trump administration for what it said was the “abuse of tariffs” after the US imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on India over its continued purchase of Russian oil.
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun, while addressing the press on Thursday, was asked for a comment on US’ additional 25 per cent tariffs on India for doing business with Russia, to which he replied, “China’s opposition to the abuse of tariffs is consistent and clear.”
China’s remarks come after US President Donald Trump, when asked on Wednesday whether China could also face a similar tariff threat, hinted at such a possibility.
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“Could happen. Depends on how we do. Could happen,” Trump had said.
Later, Trump also said that apart from India, a couple of more countries could see similar additional tariffs, one of which could be China.
“It may happen. I mean I don’t know. I can’t tell you yet but I can. We did it with India. We’re doing it probably with a couple of others. One of them could be China.”
According to data from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CERA) for June 2025, China is the largest buyer of the Russian crude oil and purchased 47% of Russia’s crude exports, followed by India at 38%, the EU at 6%, and Turkiye at 6%, reported news agency ANI.
However, neither China nor Turkey have faced any tariff threat or penalty by the US for doing business with Russia.
How India reacted to US’ additional tariffs
The Ministry of External Affairs called the additional 25% tariffs announced by the US on Wednesday as “unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable” and said that India will take necessary actions to protect its national interests.
“We have already made clear our position on these issues, including the fact that our imports are based on market factors and done with the overall objective of ensuring the energy security of 1.4 billion people of India,” the MEA said.
“It is therefore extremely unfortunate that the US should choose to impose additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest,” it added.
