China not to bend to US tariff threats over Iranian oil imports
China is unlikely to back down in the face of fresh US threats to impose punitive tariffs on Chinese exports over continued purchases of Iranian oil, AP reported on Monday, citing market analysts.
It came after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in Stockholm last week that China would have to “pay a 100% tariff” on exports to the US if it persisted in importing oil under sanctions from Iran and Russia.
“It’s no secret the Chinese are buying 90% of the Iranian oil,” Bessent told reporters, expressing concerns about China’s disregard for US sanctions.
China swiftly rejected the threat. “China will always ensure its energy supply in ways that serve our national interests,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a post on X, dismissing Washington’s pressure campaign as “coercion.” The ministry also vowed that China would “firmly defend its sovereignty, security and development interests.”
Tu Xinquan, the head of the China Institute for WTO Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, echoed the government’s stance.
“If the US is bent on imposing tariffs, China will fight to the end, and this is China’s consistent official stance,” he said.
China has already resisted US tariff threats. When US President Donald Trump imposed sweeping duties on dozens of countries in April, China was the only nation to strike back in kind.
Zong Peiwu, China’s ambassador to Tehran, also dismissed Washington’s threat, insisting that trade between China and Iran was “normal and should not be subject to unilateral sanctions imposed by a third party.”
He told ISNA last week that “normal trade” between the two countries would not be negatively affected.
According to analysts, Beijing is unlikely to abandon Iranian crude due to its competitive prices. “Beijing simply can’t afford to walk away from the oil from Russia and Iran,” said Danny Russel, a distinguished fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, based in Washington, D.C. “It’s too important a strategic energy supply, and Beijing is buying it at fire sale prices.”
China reportedly purchases Iranian crude at good discounts compared to global benchmarks.
Despite increased US efforts to tighten the screws on Iran, latest tanker-tracking data shows Iranian oil exports have risen steadily in recent months, reaching an estimated 1.8 million barrels per day, with most of them ending up at independent refineries in eastern China, known as “teapots.”
Iran’s Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad recently said that the country would continue to sell its oil regardless of external pressure.