Beijing is urging Washington to revoke what it called unlawful and unilateral trade measures announced by US President Donald Trump hours after the US Supreme Court ruled that his previous global levies – imposed under emergency powers – were illegal, multiple media outlets have reported.
Ministry of Commerce officials also said they would conduct a full assessment of the Supreme Court ruling for any implications. It also noted that Trump’s tariff actions violated both international trade rules and US domestic law, and that protectionism produced no winners.
The comments followed a 6-3 ruling by the Supreme Court that found that the US’ International Emergency Economic Powers Act did not permit the type of broad-based import taxes Trump unleashed – or threatened to unleash – on most of his trading partners last year, shaking up the global economy.
Within hours of the decision, Trump announced plans to impose new global tariffs of 10 percent, then 15 percent, under a largely untested legal provision known as Section 122 that permits temporary import surcharges for up to 150 days, specifically to address balance-of-payments issues. These tariffs are set to become effective today.
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“Any Country that wants to ‘play games’ with the ridiculous supreme court decision, especially those that have ‘Ripped Off’ the U.S.A. for years, and even decades, will be met with a much higher Tariff, and worse, than that which they just recently agreed to,” he wrote on Truth Social.
The move surprised some US officials and has been described as a “political weapon” by Gao Lingyun, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Trump is expected to visit China to meet with President Xi Jinping in late March and early April, with trade and tariffs dominating the agenda.
