Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Yu Dunhai, has urged the international community to unite against the torrent of tariffs the US President Donald Trump imposed on several countries, warning that the action could trigger global recession with dire consequences, especially for Africa.
The Chinese envoy made the call yesterday at a news conference in Abuja, stressing that the US actions severely infringed on the legitimate rights and interests of other countries, blatantly violated WTO rules, seriously undermined the rule-based multilateral trading system and destabilised global economic order.
“The international community must unite and fight back to defend our shared interests. Today, opposing US tariff abuse and bullying means upholding multilateralism and fairness and justice,” he said.
The US president intensified tariffs against several countries with China the biggest hit with 145% of Chinese goods going into the US market while Beijing has responded with a tariff of 125% against US goods.
Other countries including the European Union have since slammed varying degrees of tariffs on the US which prompted the Trump administration to suspend implementation for 90 days for many countries as windows for negotiations may have opened.
Ambassador Yu further said that the sweeping tariff regime also defied basic economic principles and market rules, ignoring the fact that the US had long profited immensely from international trade.
“Using tariffs as a weapon for maximum pressure and self-interest is a typical manifestation of unilateralism, protectionism and economic bullying.
This is neither “reciprocal’ nor “fair”, it is essentially about pursuing “America First” and American exceptionalism.
“The US aims to force other countries to submit through maximum pressure and make America great again. But this strategy will backfire, harming its own interests as much as others.
“US problems are self-inflicted but this tariff approach won’t solve its issues, they will only deepen its isolation. By turning its back on the world and launching a full-scale tariff war, the US will not achieve its goals. Instead, it will fuel inflation, weaken its industrial base, trigger financial market panic and increase the risk of an economic recession,” he added.
The envoy also warned that developing nations would be hit hardest by the tariffs and it would particularly be devastating to African countries, Nigeria inclusive.
“Using the absurd logic that ‘trade surpluses equate cheating’ the US has launched indiscriminate attacks on African countries, violating the WTO principles of special treatment for developing countries.
“This has already caused ‘collateral damage’ such as currency devaluation and stock market volatility in Africa. The growth momentum of major African economies will inevitably be affected, with some structurally vulnerable economies possibly suffering severe blows, undermining Africa’s industrialization and poverty reduction efforts,” Yu said.
He called on Nigeria and other African countries to collaborate with China as his country would open more opportunities for Africa under the platform of Forum For China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
He pointed out that China stands ready to work with Nigeria to implement the outcomes of FOCAC to deepen mutual benefits and collaboration to foster multilateralism and resist protectionism.
“China does not provoke trouble, neither are we intimidated by it,” he asserted, adding that his country had taken firm measures to safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests.
