Chinese ambassador: US tariffs will not impact our cooperation with Serbia

BELGRADE - Chinese Ambassador to Belgrade Li Ming said on Thursday he did not expect the operations of two major Chinese companies in Serbia, the Zijin mining company and the HBIS steel plant, to be impacted by US tariffs or Sino-Serbian cooperation to be influenced by the US trade war against China in any way.

Speaking to Tanjug at the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, the ambassador said the cooperation had solid foundations and that joint projects were based on mutual respect, equality and mutual benefits, and added that no outside factor could have a negative impact on that cooperation.

He said Zijin and HBIS products did not "target the US market as a primary export destination."

"So, I believe the two projects will not be influenced by the tariffs imposed by the US," he said.

"We strongly condemn and firmly oppose these additional tariffs, the so called reciprocal tariffs. We believe the tariffs undermine the world economic order and violate World Trade Organisation rules and can only bring more turbulence to the world economy," Li also said.