China’s top diplomat called on the U.S. to remove tariffs it imposed on Chinese goods for Beijing’s alleged role in America’s fentanyl crisis before holding any talks on the matter, deepening a stalemate weighing on trade ties between the world’s two largest economies.
“If the U.S. side really wants to solve the fentanyl problem, then it should cancel the unjustified tariff increase and engage in equal consultation with the Chinese side,” Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said in an interview with Russian state-run news service RIA Novosti on Tuesday.
Wang’s demand came over a week after U.S. President Donald Trump’s ally Steve Daines met with top Chinese officials and asked Beijing to stop the flow of the drug’s ingredients into the US as a condition for talks. The opposing requests dim the prospect of high-level talks to ease tensions a day before the US president is set to announce his so-called reciprocal tariffs on global trade partners.
Fentanyl has become a flashpoint in U.S.-China relations, with Trump accusing Beijing of having done too little to stop the drugs and their precursors from entering the U.S. China in turn accused the Trump administration of using the issue as a pretext to raise tariffs. Last month Chinese officials said that the U.S. owes Beijing a “big thank you” for its crackdown on the opioid trade.
“If the U.S. side persists in exerting pressure and even continues to engage in blackmail, China will resolutely counteract it,” Wang said, according to a transcript published by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Wang made the comments during a visit to Moscow where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. During his discussions—taking place just over one month ahead of a planned visit to Russia by Chinese leader Xi Jinping—Wang reiterated the importance of China-Russian ties, describing the two nations as “forever friends and never enemies.”
He also repeated that China was willing to work with the international community, especially the countries of the Global South, to play a “constructive role” in any peace settlement to end the war in Ukraine.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
