Q: On February 4, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council of China issued a notice on levying additional tariffs on certain imported commodities originating from the United States. At the same time, China has filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization against the 10 percent tariff imposed by the United States on Chinese products. What is your comment?

A: The U.S. has levied a 10 percent additional tariff on Chinese imports under the pretext of the fentanyl issue. China firmly deplores and opposes this move. China has taken necessary countermeasures in accordance with relevant laws and regulations and the basic principles of international law, which are completely justified and reasonable. Meanwhile, China has filed a lawsuit with the WTO to firmly safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.

China is one of the world’s toughest countries on counternarcotics both in terms of policy and its implementation. Fentanyl is an issue for the U.S. In the spirit of humanity and goodwill, China has given support to the U.S.’s response to this issue. At the U.S.’s request, China announced back in 2019 the decision to officially schedule fentanyl-related substances as a class. We are the first country in the world to do so. In recent years, China and the U.S. have carried out extensive, practical cooperation in the field of drug control, and made a lot of visual progress in the areas of substance control, information exchange, case cooperation, online advertisement cleanup, drug detection technology exchange, and multilateral interactions. The achievements we have made are there for all to see.

Reducing domestic drug demand and strengthening law enforcement cooperation are the fundamental solutions. The U.S. needs to view and solve its own fentanyl issue in an objective and rational way, cherish China's goodwill, instead of threatening other countries with arbitrary tariff hikes. The unilateral tariff increase by the U.S. seriously violates WTO rules and is a typical act of unilateralism and trade protectionism. It undermines the foundation of China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation and is bound to affect and undermine future counternarcotics cooperation between the two sides.

China calls on the U.S. to correct its wrongdoings, maintain the hard-won positive dynamics in the counternarcotics cooperation, and promote the steady, sound and sustainable development of China-U.S. relationship.