China says it won’t ‘kneel’ to U.S., urges countries to resist bullying

China on Tuesday vowed it would “never kneel down” in the face of President Donald Trump’s tariff pressure because “bowing to a bully is like drinking poison to quench thirst,” painting itself as a champion for the international community.

A dramatic video released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the latest example of Beijing’s defiant response to Trump’s trade war, which has thrown the relationship between the world’s two largest economies into turmoil and provided an opportunity for China to cast itself as a more reliable global superpower.

“China’s countermeasures against the U.S. and display of defiance might help it win some hearts and support from other developing countries victimized by the tariffs,” said Song Guoyou, deputy director of the Center for American Studies at Shanghai’s Fudan University.

“We are not trying to be anyone’s hero, but someone has to take a stand,” he said.

After months of bluster against China, Trump has recently adopted a more measured tone. He said last week that tariffs on Chinese goods, some of which are as high as 245 percent, will come down “substantially,” and has claimed to be in communication with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

But Beijing is refusing to back down as it tries to force Trump to blink first, even though its own economy was struggling even before the trade war.

Though China exempted some U.S.-made goods, including semiconductors, from its retaliatory 125 percent tariffs last week, Chinese officials have repeatedly rejected the administration’s claim that tariff negotiations are taking place or that Trump and Xi have spoken on the phone.

The video published by Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday and promoted on international social media, as well as local channels, is set to a cinematic soundtrack and includes clips of high-tech Chinese factories and a spaceship launch.

It declares that “China won’t back down so the voices of the weak will be heard … When the rest of the world stands together in solidarity, the U.S. is just a small stranded boat,” giving examples of Japanese and French companies that have suffered from American trade policies in an apparent attempt to foster solidarity.

“Someone has to step forward, torch in hand, to shatter the fog and illuminate the path ahead,” the English voice-over continues.

Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, hammered home a similar message at a BRICS meeting on Monday in Brazil, where he emphasized China’s role as a defender of free trade and multilateralism.

“If we choose to give the bully an inch by remaining silent, giving in or backing down, we are only emboldening them to take a yard,” he said, according to a Chinese readout.

Meanwhile, several dozen Chinese ambassadors, mostly in developing countries, have provided commentary for local papers this month slamming Washington’s trade policy and arguing that the tariffs will disproportionately affect poorer nations.

It is all part of a steady drumbeat of propaganda Beijing has been using to send a forceful message to Washington. But China has also resorted to more tangible retaliation, cutting off supplies of raw materials required to produce everything from fighter jets to cancer drugs, and rejecting three jets made by the American aviation giant Boeing.

China’s Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday blamed the United States for the Boeing returns. Due to Trump’s decision to “wield the tariff stick,” a ministry spokesperson said, “many companies have been unable to carry out normal trade and investment activities” and “this is taking a great toll of Boeing, too.”

The previous day, Chinese officials said they would be able to secure food and energy supplies without trade with the U.S.

“The Chinese people’s rice bowl is firmly held in their own hands,” Zhao Chenxin, a top official at the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s state planner, said at a news conference Monday. “Even if we do not purchase feed grains and oilseeds from the United States, it will not have much impact on our country’s food supply.”

U.S. liquefied natural gas accounted for just around 5 percent of China’s total gas imports in 2024, while U.S. crude oil imports accounted for 1.8 percent of total imports, according to official data.

In the trade war during Trump’s first presidential term, Beijing retaliated against U.S. tariffs with levies on agricultural goods, a move which targeted the livelihood of U.S. farmers, an important political bloc for Trump.

At the time, China was very dependent on U.S. agricultural imports, like soybeans. But officials have prepared for another trade standoff with Washington by diversifying import sources to countries such as Brazil, said Even Pay, an expert on Chinese agricultural policy at Trivium China, a consultancy.

The U.S. contributed 21 percent of China’s total soybean imports in 2024, down 13 percentage points from 2018, according to China’s National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration. Brazilian soybeans accounted for 71 percent of China’s imports last year.

“There was a lot of vulnerability, and now China is a lot more insulated,” said Pay. “It is going a bit too far to say it doesn’t make any difference if U.S. agricultural products are locked out of the market, of course it makes a difference - it will make an impact. But it isn’t a huge economic risk.”

Policymakers can act with a lot more confidence this time around, she said.

But not all Chinese economic indicators evince confidence.

China has struggled with sluggish growth coming out of the pandemic, as well as a stubborn property market slump and high levels of youth unemployment. Exports, which will be most affected by the trade war, have been a lonely optimistic data point. Though Chinese officials have been hunting for new destinations for Chinese goods in Europe and Asia, experts note it is hard to replace the vast U.S. market.

“The longer the standoff lasts, the bigger harm it will bring to both China and the U.S.,” said Fudan’s Song. “China is watching closely for any sign of sincerity from the U.S. side, and then decide if it’s a good timing to start talking.”

In the absence of such a sign, Xi has been signaling that the Chinese people need to rally together for an extended fight with Trump.

A blog affiliated with the state-run Beijing Daily on Monday encouraged readers to revisit speeches given by Mao Zedong, the founding leader of Communist China, called “On Protracted War,” about the conflict with Japan starting in the 1930s. Chinese diplomats have taken to social media in recent weeks to post quotes from Mao as a way to condemn U.S. intimidation.

“Amid the turbulent clouds of the present, it would be worthwhile to reread ‘On Protracted War,’ to appreciate the dialectical thinking that ‘danger and opportunity coexist,’ and to grasp the strategic vision explaining why China ‘will ultimately achieve final victory,’” the Beijing Daily blog post read.

“Only by daring to struggle and being adept at struggle can danger be turned into opportunity and crisis into safety,” the article continued.