Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom to jointly defend the multilateral trading system against the United States’ indiscriminate economic attacks on other countries with arbitrary tariffs.
In telephone conversations with British Foreign Minister David Lammy and Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger on Tuesday, Wang Yi stressed that China is determined to safeguard the multilateral trading system. The United States is using tariffs as a weapon to attack other countries, Wang said, adding that these practices clearly violate World Trade Organization rules and undermine the legitimate rights of countries around the world. Wang said that such unilateral steps take international relations back to the “law of the jungle” and are therefore a dangerous and historic step backwards. “Solidarity and cooperation are essential for maintaining the international order for the benefit of all countries,” Wang said, emphasizing that China has a responsibility not only to protect its own interests but also to defend the global order and the rules-based system. British Foreign Secretary Lammy said that as permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, the UK and China have serious responsibilities for global economic development and the sustainability of international trade. Lammy stated that they are ready to continue communication with China in this framework. Cui Hongjian, Director of the Center for European Union and Regional Development Studies at Beijing Foreign Affairs University, said that globalization has made countries interdependent on each other and the US’s arbitrary tariffs have upset this system. Cui said that the US attack on the existing trade order is not aimed at building a better order, but only at creating a structure that suits its own interests.
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202504/24/WS680978a2a3104d9fd38212c8.html
