The Chinese Foreign Ministry and the Communist Party’s state propaganda arms railed on Tuesday against President Donald Trump’s imposition of a 25-percent tariff on countries that do business with Iran.
The president announced the policy after two weeks of protests in the country calling for an end to the brutal Islamist regime, which has responded with widespread violence that, some estimates suggest, has killed as many as 3,000 people. The “supreme leader” of Iran, 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has since said in public remarks that it is the democratically elected Trump administration, and not his regime, that is on the verge of collapse, and Khamenei’s underlings have insisted that the regime has the country “under control.”
Trump has since called on Iranian protesters to “TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS” and suggested the White House would support them.
The 25-percent “secondary” tariff on Iranian goods is intended to keep money out of the Iranian regime’s coffers that could be used to arm its repressive apparatus. As Iran, a U.S.-designated state sponsor of terrorism, already faces heavy sanctions by the United States and its allies, the tariff will most likely affect Iran’s close allies, most prominently the fellow members of the anti-American BRICS coalition, led by China. It is especially expected to hurt China given its recent loss of full access to oil from Venezuela following Trump’s arrest of former dictator Nicolás Maduro.
“China’s position on the tariffs issue is very clear. Tariff wars have no winners,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters on Tuesday. “China will firmly protect its legitimate and lawful rights and interests.”
On the protests, Mao claimed that China supported “stability in the country” and condemned Trump, without naming him, for the “use or threat of force in international relations.”
The Chinese embassy in Washington weighed in more forcefully on the matter, threatening to take “all necessary measures” to protect itself from the tariffs.
“China’s position against the indiscriminate imposition of tariffs is consistent and clear. Tariff wars and trade wars have no winners, and coercion and pressure cannot solve problems. Protectionism harms the interests of all parties,” embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu declared.
“China firmly opposes any illicit unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction, and will take all necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” Liu declared.
The Global Times, a Chinese state-run propaganda newspaper, lodged its own complaint by publishing remarks from a regime-approved Chinese “expert” linked to Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), who complained that tariffs on Iranian business partners could destabilize the global economy.
“The global economic growth is already sluggish, coupled with the impact of various geopolitical conflicts and US policy uncertainty,” the expert, Lanzhou University Belt and Road center director Zhu Yongbiao, was quoted as saying. “By continuously implementing tariff measures, the US is eroding the foundation of global economic growth, which not only brings multiple negative impacts to the global economy but also causes shocks to its own.”
Zhu claimed that the tariffs also created an image of “arbitrarily abusing power” for America, “and its consistent practice of provoking geopolitical conflicts and interfering in other countries’ internal affairs around the world will dampen the enthusiasm for capital inflows.”
Trump announced an “immediate” 25-percent tariff on Iranian business partners on Monday, calling the move “final and conclusive.” During a brief briefing on Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt explained that Trump is “keeping all of his options on the table” regarding Iran, including military action, but is for now preferring “diplomacy” and economic measures.
China is high on the list of countries most likely to be affected by the tariffs, as it is a BRICS ally of Iran’s and consumes significant amounts of sanctioned Iranian oil. Oil experts told Reuters last week that they expected China to increase its purchases of Iranian oil to offset what it is expected to lose from business with Venezuela following the fall of Maduro. The tariffs may force China to consider alternate sources of oil instead of Iran.
Maduro himself had very close ties to Iran before his arrest. As Hugo Chávez’s foreign minister, Maduro was revealed to have visited Damascus, Syria, in 2007 to negotiate cooperation with Iran’s terrorist proxy Hezbollah, and regularly welcomed Iranian officials to Caracas while he was running the country. Maduro also maintained close relations with China; his last official event before his arrest was a meeting with a special envoy sent by dictator Xi Jinping.
Iran has been experiencing intense protests for two weeks following a collapse in the value of the riyal in late December. While the currency crash was the immediate trigger of the uprising, Iranians have endured poor quality of life and extreme, violent repression for decades. In the year leading up to the protests, Tehran had run out of water, prompting President Masoud Pezeshkian to demand the construction of a new capital. The shortages also triggered the announcement of an increase in taxes in the coming year, outraging Iranians.
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