OAN Staff James Meyers
10:40 AM – Wednesday, March 5, 2025
China has warned that it is ready for any “type of war” against the United States — after President Donald Trump enacted higher tariffs on the populous Asian country.
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“If war is what the U.S. wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war, or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said late on Tuesday.
Tensions have begun to escalate after the 10% tariff on Chinese imports rose to 20% on Tuesday.
He continued, warning that “intimidation” and “bullying” from the U.S. would not work, with China upping their tariff on American agricultural goods to 15% — in retaliation.
“Pressuring, coercion or threats are not the right way of dealing with China. Anyone using maximum pressure on China is picking the wrong guy and miscalculation,” the spokesperson added.
Meanwhile, Trump has repeatedly justified the new tariffs — 25% on Mexican and Canadian products and 20% on Chinese goods.
The president has blamed the countries for the ongoing fentanyl and opioid crisis, with the drugs continuously being smuggled through the three nations’ borders and into the United States. Trump maintains that neither Mexico, nor Canada or China, have made any action to stop these efforts.
China later added that if the U.S. “truly wants to solve the fentanyl issue,” the “right thing to do” would be to consult China with mutual respect.
Jian circled back to defend China’s 15% tariffs on American goods, asserting that China “has made clear its opposition” to the tariffs, noting that they must “defend our rights and interests.”
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has assured that the U.S. is fully “prepared” and doing everything to deter conflict with China — speaking on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” program on Wednesday morning.
“Those who long for peace must prepare for war,” Hegseth said.
“That’s why we’re rebuilding our military. That’s why we’re re-establishing deterrence in the warrior ethos. We live in a dangerous world with powerful, ascendant countries with very different ideology.”
“They’re rapidly increasing their defense spending, modern technology, they want to supplant the United States,” he continued. “If we want to deter war with the Chinese or others, we have to be strong.”
The warning from the new U.S. defense secretary comes as the president has doubled down on his tough-on-fentanyl initiative, reminding the U.S. during his address to Congress on Tuesday night that “other countries have used tariffs against us for decades.”
“Now it’s our turn to start using them against those other countries. On average, the European Union, China, Brazil, India, Mexico and Canada … and countless other nations charge us tremendously higher tariffs than we charge them. It’s very unfair,” the president said.
“China’s average tariff on our products is twice what we charge them,” he concluded.
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