China foreign minister says Trump’s tariffs reveal ‘extreme egoism’ as he speaks out against protectionism

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Friday that Beijing backs international rules when it comes to tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump and that the U.S. levies show “extreme egoism.”

The foreign minister made the comments while he was in Kazakhstan for a China-Central Asia foreign ministers meeting.

Wang stressed that Beijing opposes protectionism amid the trade war with the U.S. sparked by Trump’s tariffs on China and many other countries.

He explained that China would look for solidarity with other countries regarding the tariffs, noting that Beijing would uphold multilateralism to “inject stability into the world.”

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said U.S. tariffs show “extreme egoism.” (Getty Images)

Trump’s tariffs reveal “extreme egoism” and the bullying of certain countries, Wang said.

In an interview published on Friday, Trump claimed that tariff negotiations with China were underway, although Beijing denied any such negotiations happening.

China has also previously accused the U.S. of “bullying” other countries through its trade war, including earlier this week at a United Nations Security Council Arria-formula meeting on “The Impact of Unilateralism and Bullying Practices on International Relations.”

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Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, said Beijing opposes protectionism. (Getty Images)

“Under the guise of reciprocity and fairness, the U.S. is playing a zero-sum game, which is essentially about subverting the existing international economic and trade order by means of tariffs, putting U.S. interests above the common good of the international community and advancing hegemonic ambitions of the U.S. at the cost of the legitimate interest of all countries,” Chinese U.N. Ambassador Fu Cong said in his opening remarks.

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Fu also praised China for its “decisive countermeasures” after facing what he described as “U.S. abuse of tariffs.”

Reuters contributed to this report.