China Condemns Trump’s ‘Tariff Shocks’ at World Trade Organization Meeting

China’s ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Li Chenggang, told a closed-door meeting in Geneva on Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s “tariff shocks” could trigger a worldwide recession.

“These ‘tariff shocks’ heighten economic uncertainty, disrupt global trade, and risk domestic inflation, market distortion or even global recession. Worse, the U.S. unilateralism threatens to upend the rules-based multilateral trading system,” Li said.

The WTO, headquartered in Geneva, is governed by a “General Council” that meets regularly with trade ambassadors from all 166 nations. Tuesday’s meeting was the first time since the 2024 U.S. election that growing worldwide trade frictions have been formally addressed by the General Council.

Disputes between the two top economies at the WTO long predate Trump’s arrival. Beijing has accused Washington of breaking rules while Washington says Beijing does not deserve its “developing country” status which entitles it to special treatment under WTO rules.

This last was an allusion to China absurdly classifying itself as a “developing nation” to enjoy preferential treatment at the WTO, despite being one of the world’s largest economies. (Read more from “China Condemns Trump’s ‘Tariff Shocks’ at World Trade Organization Meeting” HERE)