Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong took a sharp dig at US President Donald Trump after the latter imposed tariffs on various countries including India.
Give the bully an inch, he will take a mile," wrote China's envoy on X, without even hinting at Trump. The tweet included a quote from a recent conversation between China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Celso Amorim, Chief Advisor to Brazilian President Lula.
The quote read, "Using tariffs as a weapon to suppress other countries violates the UN Charter, undermines WTO rules and is both unpopular and unsustainable."
India was once considered a prospective early signatory to a trade agreement with the Trump administration. However, negotiations were held up after five rounds of talks, as there were differences over access to India's agricultural and dairy markets and its continued import of Russian oil.
Xu's statement comes as Trump issued renewed threats, indicating that there might be new tariffs imposed on China over its Russian oil imports.
"It might be, I don't know, I can't tell you yet, we did it with India and we are doing it probably with a couple of others, one of them could be China," Trump said in a White House press briefing.
India, Turkey, and China are currently among Russia's top three purchasers of its oil. Trump has suggested imposing "secondary tariffs" on all of them if the war in Ukraine is not settled by Friday.
Earlier this year in 2025, there was a flare-up of tensions between Beijing and Washington as both countries exchanged tariff increases. The U.S. increased tariffs to 145%, leading China to retaliate with a 125% cap. China responded to the back-and-forth by saying, "Even if the US further increases tariffs to even higher levels, it would be economically meaningless and would ultimately become a laughingstock in the history of global economics."
Although tensions continue, Trump has announced intentions to sit down with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year in an effort to work out a new trade deal.
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