China criticises Trump’s India tariffs, calls for stronger economic ties with New Delhi

Beijing’s envoy in New Delhi has strongly criticised the Donald Trump administration’s decision to impose tariffs of up to 50 per cent on Indian exports, describing the move as “unfair and unreasonable”. Chinese ambassador Xu Feihong said the measure was a misuse of trade policy and called for India and China to step up cooperation to mitigate its impact.

Speaking at an event marking the 80th anniversary of China’s victory over Japan in the Second World War, Xu argued that Washington was turning tariffs into a “weapon” to extract “exorbitant” costs from trading partners.

“The trade war was started by the US International trade should complement one another and lead to mutually beneficial cooperation,” he said. “The US has long benefited from free trade, but now it is using tariffs as a tool. The imposition of up to 50 per cent tariffs on India is unfair, unreasonable, and China firmly opposes it.”

The ambassador said India and China, as two of the world’s largest emerging economies, should expand their economic partnership in response.

“We have 2.8 billion people, mega-sized economies and complementary strengths. Our focus should be on development, mutual support and mutual success,” he said, recalling President Xi Jinping’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.

Xu also underlined shared concerns over terrorism, stressing that both countries were “victims of terrorism” and have cooperated through multilateral forums such as the SCO and BRICS. He added that Beijing was willing to work with New Delhi and the wider international community to strengthen counter-terrorism efforts.

Highlighting the broader relationship, Xu said that China welcomes Indian companies to promote their products and invest in the Chinese market, while expressing hope that India would offer a “fair, just and non-discriminatory” business environment for Chinese enterprises.

He noted that Chinese missions in India had issued more than 240,000 visas to Indian citizens this year, describing people-to-people exchanges as a strong foundation of bilateral ties.

The ambassador’s comments come against the backdrop of former US President Donald Trump’s sharp criticism of India’s trade practices and its continued energy purchases from Russia. Trump had described the US-India trade relationship as a “one-sided disaster” and accused New Delhi of benefiting from discounted Russian oil while maintaining high tariffs on American goods.

In a pointed remark following Prime Minister Modi’s participation at the SCO summit alongside Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, Trump tweeted that the US had “lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest China”.

Trump later tempered his words, insisting that relations with Modi remained “very special”, but stood by his decision to levy steep tariffs on Indian exports.

Reacting to this, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge accused Modi of damaging India’s position internationally through his close ties with Trump, calling Modi an “enemy of the nation” for prioritising personal friendship over national interest.

Kharge pointed out that the tariffs have hurt India’s economy and that Modi deviated from India's long-standing foreign policy of neutrality by overly aligning with Trump. Kharge also linked the US tariffs and strained ties with the subsequent need for India to recalibrate its relations with China.

The move, aimed at penalising India’s economic links with Moscow, has added a new layer of complexity to US-India relations. Analysts say it has also reinforced New Delhi’s emphasis on strategic autonomy and a balanced foreign policy in an increasingly polarised global order.