China denounced the Biden administration's action and vowed 'resolute measures' to protect its interests. But Beijing's response also suggests a new dynamic - and confidence - compared with 2018 when Trump-era tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese goods touched off an escalating trade war.
In response to the tariffs, Chinese state media have shot back, accusing the United States of subverting its own free trade principles and taking action that threatens climate goals and will push up costs for American consumers. In essence, the argument goes, you are hurting yourself. That marks a break from the tone in 2018.
"China can take the moral high ground," said Wang Huiyao, founder and president of the Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization, a think tank. "It doesn't play around with those who break international standards and norms."
In the starkest language of its response, the Chinese commerce ministry said the White House had broken the spirit of an agreement to steady bilateral relations reached by Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden late last year in San Francisco. Biden has said he wants to win this era of competition with China but not to launch a trade war.
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