'Let those peasants in the United States wail': Beijing fires back in latest escalation to Trump trade war

15 April 2025, 18:55 | Updated: 15 April 2025, 18:57

"Let those peasants in the United States wail in front of 5,000 years of Chinese civilisation"; Beijing has fired back at the US in an extraordinary escalation to the trade war.

Xia Baolong, a top Chinese official who oversees affairs in Hong Kong, slammed the US tariffs describing them as "extremely shameless".

He warned bullying has never worked on Chinese people in a televised speech which aired today.

Mr Baolong, who is director of China's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office under the State Council, delivered a speech via a video link during the opening ceremony of the National Security Education Day.

It comes days after President Trump slapped 145% tariffs on all Chinese goods bound for the US, sending shockwaves through the world's financial markets.

Beijing responded to the inflammatory move by imposing its own 125% levies on American imports.

Trump vs China: Who will win the trade war?

China's President Xi Jinping is making the case for free trade as he tours Southeast Asia this week, presenting China as a source of "stability and certainty".

On Monday, he was welcomed to Hanoi with pomp and ceremony by Vietnam's President Luong Cuong.

He arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital, later Tuesday, for a three-day visit and will end his tour with a stop in Cambodia. In Hanoi, Mr Xi had a meeting with Vietnam's

Communist Party general secretary To Lam, where he said the two countries "have brought the world valuable stability and certainty" in a "turbulent world".

He also paid respects at the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, the founder of the Vietnamese Communist Party.

"As beneficiaries of economic globalisation, both China and Vietnam should strengthen strategic resolve, jointly oppose unilateral bullying acts, uphold the global free trade system, and keep global industrial and supply chains stable," he added, according to a statement from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

China and Vietnam signed a series of memoranda on cooperation in supply chains and a joint railway project, and Mr Xi also promised greater access for Vietnamese agricultural exports to China, although few details were made public about the agreements.

US President Donald Trump complained about the meeting, which comes days after his tariffs upended global markets and left governments across the world scrambling.