Barely a day after China dropped the hammer on US stock markets by unveiling retaliatory tariffs on $50 billion in US imports that – unlike US measures that mostly targeted obscure industrial products – actually struck at key industries like soybean farmers, automobiles and airplanes, the Communist Party crowd about what it already sees as its “victory” in the nascent trade war in an editorial published by the Global Times, China’s state-owned, English-language tabloid and extremely hawkish party mouthpiece.

In the editorial, China swatted away US claims – repeated most recently by Larry Kudlow during this morning’s interview with Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo – that China has somehow victimized the US via its trade agreements while gloating about the leadership’s decision to strike at a “massive weak spot” for the US economy.

While the tit-for-tat tariffs could hurt both economies, the damage to China’s economy caused by the US’s Section 301 tariffs will “pale in comparison to the damage done to the US economy via China’s retaliation.”

And just to illustrate that point, literally, a Chinese cartoonist showed that another way Beijing will hurt the US is by a “stockmarket squeeze.”

Furthermore, in standing up to America’s “bullying tactics”, China warns that the pleasure the US had derived from its sanctions in the past “will now cause them suffering as their financial and political gains diminish to zero.”

This is Beijing’s clear show of retaliation toward the proposed tariff list on Chinese products from the US. Beijing showed an impressive response time for its retaliation efforts, taking less than 12 hours to announce its trade countermeasures. Chinese officials agree that its country’s countermeasures match those imposed by the US and that they showcase China’s determination to win this trade war.

It is worth noting that China strikes the US side by targeting its most valuable imports, such as soybeans, automobiles and chemical products. These aspects were targeted because they represent key pillars in the US imports and can create a massive weak spot for the US economy if their profitability is at risk.

Although China will sustain financial losses thanks to the US’ Section 301 investigation tariffs, they will pale in comparison to the damage done to the US economy via China’s retaliations.

China’s counter tariffs are a spectacular way of standing up to America’s bullying tactics, not only for itself, but for other countries threatened by the US’s new trade policies.

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