China seeks dialogue amid U.S. tariff threats and opioid tension

Chinese authorities express their willingness to engage in active dialogue with the U.S. on the principles of mutual respect, aiming to develop bilateral economic and trade relations, Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen said on Friday, as reported by Reuters.

Wang, who also serves as China's International Trade Representative, emphasized the readiness to handle external shocks, in response to questions about potential tariffs that the future U.S. president Donald Trump may impose.

Wang expressed confidence that China and the U.S. will be able to maintain stable, healthy, and sustainable economic and trade relations. He added that Beijing is ready to expand areas of cooperation and manage differences with the U.S.

Reuters interviewed economists who predict that the United States might impose tariffs on Chinese imports reaching almost 40% at the beginning of next year, which could lower the growth of the world’s second-largest economy by 1 percentage point.

However, there is something that the Chinese can do as a gesture of goodwill. According to the U.S., the Chinese government is taking conscious actions to spark an epidemic of the synthetic opioid fentanyl within the United States. These actions involve subsidizing the production of substances necessary to manufacture the drug.

Investigators working for the commission discovered that Chinese producers of so-called fentanyl precursors can make use of tax breaks if they decide to sell their products outside of China. This information was obtained thanks to access to a government portal in Beijing used for filing such tax relief requests.

However, as the "Wall Street Journal" writes, three days after Donald Trump won the presidential election, China announced that, in cooperation with American intelligence, it had arrested a suspect involved in the long-term production of chemicals used to produce fentanyl. It was a symbolic gesture of goodwill by Beijing, taken as a result of intense pressure from Washington to tighten actions.

However, as noted by "WSJ," when Trump takes office, he promises to adopt an aggressive stance against China regarding their role in the fentanyl crisis, abandoning attempts at diplomacy and compromises made by the Biden administration. During the campaign, Trump announced that he would impose harsh tariffs on China if they do not help stop the influx of illegal drugs to the U.S., reports the American journal.