‘Unilateral acts of bullying’: Xi Jinping breaks silence on Donald Trump's tariff war; says China, EU should join hands

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for the European Union to work together with his country to oppose “unilateral acts of bullying”, taking a swipe at the sweeping new tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump.

Jinping's comments on Friday was made during his meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and comes as his first public statement on the US tariffs issue.

Xi Jinping told the Spanish PM that China and EU must join hands to defend globalisation. He said there could be "no winners" in any trade war, adding that the EU had a key role to play in ensuring global economic stability.

What did Xi Jinping say on US tariffs?

“China has always regarded the EU as an important pole in a multipolar world, and is one of the major countries firmly supporting the EU's unity and growth,” Xi Jinping told Sanchez during their talks in Beijing, according to the Xinhua news agency, as quoted by Reuters.

“China and the EU should fulfill their international responsibilities, jointly safeguard the trend of economic globalisation and the international trade environment, and jointly oppose unilateral acts of bullying,” the President of China added.

His comments come a week after US President Donald Trump announced a 34 per cent tariff on Chinese imports, and later revised it to as much as 145 per cent after the Xi Jinping-led country retaliated in a trade war.

No winners in trade war

“There are no winners in a tariff war,” Xi said, without explicitly mentioning Trump or the United States.

His remarks prompted the Spanish leader to say that “Trade wars aren't good - the world needs China and the US to talk.”

Sanchez's trip to Beijing, his third in three years, aims to forge closer economic and political ties with China amid the global fallout from Donald Trump's tariff policy, seeking to position Spain as an interlocutor between China and the EU and to attract more Chinese investment.

Spanish officials have rejected a US warning that moving closer to the Asian country would be “cutting your own throat”.

“We believe there are opportunities to deepen relations, but it's important that China shows sensitivity to European demands for more balanced relations,” Sanchez said, referring to the EU's trade deficit with Beijing, which last year exceeded $300 billion.

US-China trade war

US President Donald Trump on April 2 said all Chinese imports will now have a 34 per cent tariff, in a major move that has since shaken the global economy. He displayed a long list, imposing tariffs on almost every country of the world.

Days later, China retaliated with a 34 per cent tariff on US imports. Donald Trump was visibly agitated with the move.

In a stunning reversal, Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would temporarily lower hefty duties he had just imposed on dozens of countries including the EU-27, but further jacked up tariffs on Chinese imports to over 145 per cent.

China has retaliated by imposing 125 per cent tariffs on US imports. The Chinese finance ministry has said that China will ignore further tariffs from the US on Chinese products.