Doue dazzles as PSG humble Inter 5-0 to win first European Cup
MUNICH, Germany, May 31 (Reuters) - Teenager Desire Doue scored twice to inspire Paris St Germain to their first European Cup triumph with a crushing 5-0 victory over Inter Milan on Saturday, the biggest winning margin in the final of the continent's premier club competition.
After losing the 2020 final to Bayern Munich, Luis Enrique's PSG side, who teetered on the brink of elimination in the league phase, finally claimed the trophy their Qatari owners have craved since taking over the French capital club in 2011.
PSG's young team achieved what the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe could not do in their colours as they became only the second French side to win the trophy after Olympique de Marseille in 1993.
"Making history was a goal from the start of last season," Luis Enrique said.
"I really felt a connection with the players and the fans, a very strong connection that we saw throughout the season. We were able to handle the tension and excitement in the best possible way."
PSG put on a masterclass which the more experienced Inter team had no answer to, scoring twice in the opening 20 minutes through former Inter defender Achraf Hakimi and Doue.
The 19-year-old Doue was on target again in the 63rd minute, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored 10 minutes later and substitute Senny Mayulu netted three minutes from time to complete the rout in Munich.
Before kickoff the Italian fans sang "There's Only Inter", the club's anthem, but on the pitch their side went missing and PSG ran riot to secure a richly deserved win.
PSG bossed the game from the start, maintaining possession with their slick passing, every player constantly searching for an opening, which they found in the 12th minute when Vitinha played a pass into Doue in the box.
Inter defenders appealed for offside but Federico Dimarco played the PSG man onside and the youngster kept his cool to roll the ball across goal and hand Hakimi the simplest of tap-ins.
"We have made history, we have written our names in the history of this club," Hakimi said.
"For a long time this club deserved it, we are very happy. We have created a great family."
The second came eight minutes later from a quick PSG counter which found Ousmane Dembele on the left wing.
Dembele drove forward before floating the ball to the far side and Doue had time to control the ball on his chest and his shot took a deflection off Dimarco to beat the wrong-footed Yann Sommer.
GAME OVER
Inter had to try to attack in the second half but PSG killed off the game with a third goal when Vitinha slid the ball through to Doue in the area and the 19-year-old coolly slipped the ball past Sommer.
Inter were shell-shocked but things only got worse.
Dembele's defence-splitting pass from his own half sent Kvaratskhelia haring away before beating Sommer at his near post, a goal which brought the PSG bench, including Luis Enrqiue, onto the pitch.
Luis Enrique became the second manager, after his former Barcelona teammate Pep Guardiola, to win the continental treble of League, Cup and Champions League in one season twice, both winning their first with Barca and their second by beating Inter.
"He is the man who has changed everything at PSG. Since he came here, he has changed the way football is seen. He is a loyal man, he deserves it more than anyone else," Hakimi said.
PSG still had time for a fifth as Mayulu fired past Sommer from close range after a pass from substitute Bradley Barcola and the final whistle was greeted with huge roars from the French fans who had been singing loudly all game.
Inter had high hopes of making up for their defeat two years ago by Manchester City in Istanbul but finished the season trophyless.
"It absolutely didn't feel like my Inter out there, and the players are the first to know it, but I'm proud of the journey we've taken," Inter manager Simone Inzaghi said.
Luis Enrique, visibly emotional after the final whistle and wearing a T-shirt with a tribute to his daughter Xana who died in 2019, has turned PSG from a side of superstars into a group of humble players finally playing as a team.
'The Body Snatcher' Passes
Seven-time RJRGLEANER Sportsman of the year, Mike 'The Body Snatcher' McCallum has died.
Reports are that the three-weight division world champion passed away while on the way to the gym on Saturday.
According to reports, McCallum felt ill while driving and pulled off the road where police found him unresponsive.
He was 68 years old.
McCallum burst onto the scene in 1981, winning his first World Boxing Association (WBA) title four years later and held it until 1988.
The Body Snatcher earned the nickname because of an unusual feint that would help him to throw vicious hooks to the body. There were two results.
When boxers would grow wise to the move and protect themselves, they would inevitably leave themselves open to overhand lefts that landed with brutal accuracy, and if they didn't, the constant punishment would cause them to drop their hands with the same result. The Bod Snatcher would register damage upstairs.
McCallum would move up to the middleweight division but found it difficult to get fights with 'The Four Kings" - Roberto Duran, 'Marvelous' Marvin Hagler, Thomas 'The Hitman' Hearns, and 'Sugar' Ray Leonard.
Still, he would finally earn the WBA middleweight title in 1989 and held it until 1991,eventually losing to another multiple weight division champion in James Toney.
McCallum then moved to the light heavyweight division where he earned the World Boxing Council title in 1994 and held it until 1995, again losing to Toney.
The Body Snatcher retired with the enviable record of 49 wins, five losses, and a draw.
Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment, and Sport, voiced her office's sadness at the boxer's passing.
"It is with utter and complete sadness that I learned of the death of Jamaica’s three-time World Boxing Champion Michael McKenzie McCallum," the minister posted on social media network Facebook.
"I express my personal condolences to his mother, sibblings and his children. On behalf of the Ministry of Sports I take this opportunity to extend our sympathies to the family and friends of this legendary Jamaican. We hope they find strength in this time of bereavement. I urge you to keep them in your prayers."
Source: The Gleaner
Xiaomi's Tesla Y rival YU7 hits showrooms in Beijing
BEIJING, May 29 (Reuters) - Xiaomi (1810.HK), opens new tab rolled out its new sports utility vehicle in Beijing on Thursday, as the firm best known for smartphones and consumer electronics gears up to further challenge Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab in the world's largest auto market.
Xiaomi launched the YU7 at 13 of its Beijing showrooms and will start taking orders for the vehicle in July. It is keen to repeat the success of the sporty SU7 sedan, which launched last year and has outsold Tesla's Model 3 on a monthly basis since December.
Analysts have said the YU7 could pose a major threat to Tesla's best-selling Model Y but its launch comes at a time when Xiaomi, a relative newcomer to China's highly-competitive EV market, has seen new EV orders fall after a series of controversies.
Chinese authorities have been investigating a fatal highway crash at the end of March involving an SU7 in driving-assistance mode and Xiaomi has apologised for "not clear enough" marketing after customer complaints of false advertising.
Liu Jiaxing, a 34-year-old tech worker, was among the first visitors to Xiaomi's flagship showroom in Beijing Oriental Plaza on Thursday morning, eager to catch a glimpse of the emerald green YU7.
Liu said he was fond of the styling and colour as well as the fact that Xiaomi vehicles connect with the firm's personal gadgets and smart home products, which he felt pointed to how local brands understood Chinese consumers better than their foreign counterparts.
"I used to be more prone to U.S., German and French car marques, but the fast progress of China's EV sector prompts me to focus more on the products rather than brands," he said.
Another visitor was Tom van Dillen, managing partner at German management consultancy Greenkern in Beijing, who said he was not a fan of some of the YU7's intelligent features, which he described as "unnecessary", but said the YU7 was a formidable challenger to the Model Y.
He cited a "physical ecosystem advantage in the showroom where there is a dedicated area with accessories that only fit into Xiaomi cars" and their competitive price.
Xiaomi has said that it will only announce the YU7's pricing in July.
HSBC Qianhai estimated in a note last week that the new SUV will be priced between 230,000 yuan and 330,000 yuan ($31,989-$45,898) and that Xiaomi could ship 100,000 YU7 units this year and 249,000 units in 2026.
The Model Y is priced from 263,500 yuan in China.
($1 = 7.1899 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Gaza aid system under pressure as thousands seek food
CAIRO, May 29 (Reuters) - After a slow and chaotic start to the new U.S.-backed aid system in Gaza, thousands of Palestinians have been arriving at distribution points, seeking desperately needed food despite scenes of disorder and fears of violence.
The two hubs run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private group sponsored by the United States and endorsed by Israel, have been running since Tuesday, but the launch was marred by tumultuous scenes when thousands rushed the fences and forced private contractors providing security to retreat.
An Israeli military official told Reuters that the GHF was now operating four aid distribution sites, three in the Rafah area in the south and one in the Netzarim area in central Gaza.
GHF did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on whether it was now distributing aid in Netzarim.
The new system has been heavily criticised by the United Nations and other aid groups as an inadequate and flawed response to the humanitarian crisis left by Israel's 11-week blockade on aid entering Gaza.
Wessam Khader, a 25-year-old father of a three-year-old boy, said he had gone to a site near Rafah, despite widespread suspicions of the new system among Palestinians and warnings from militant group Hamas to stay away.
He said he had gone every day since Tuesday but only obtained a 3 kg (6.6 pounds) package containing flour, canned sardines, salt, noodles, biscuits and jam on the first day.
"I was driven by the hunger, for several weeks we had no flour, we had nothing in the tent," he told Reuters by telephone from Rafah. "My son wakes every day asking for something to eat and I can't give him."
When he arrived with his father and brother, there were thousands there already and no sign of the identification process that Israeli officials had said would be in place to screen out anyone considered to have links to Hamas.
"I didn't see anything, no one asked for me for anything, and if there was an electronic gate or screening I think it collapsed under the feet of the crowds," he said. The gates, the wire fences were all brought down and even plastic pipes, metal boards and fencing material was carried off.
"People were hungry and they took everything at the site," he said.
Earlier this week, GHP said it had anticipated such reactions from a "distressed population".
For Palestinians in northern Gaza, cut off from the distribution points in the south even that remains out of reach.
"We see videos about the aid, and people getting some, but they keep saying no trucks can enter north where we live," said Ghada Zaki, a 52-year-old mother of seven in Gaza City, told Reuters via chat app.
AIR STRIKES
Israel imposed the blockade at the beginning of March, saying supplies were being stolen by Hamas and used to entrench its control over Gaza. Hamas denies stealing aid and says it has protected aid trucks from looters.
Even as thousands made their way to the distribution site, Israeli jets continued to pound areas of Gaza, killing at least 45 people on Thursday, including 23 people in a strike that hit several houses in the Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical workers said.
The Israeli military said it hit dozens of targets in Gaza overnight, including what it said were weapons storage dumps, sniper positions and tunnels.
Speculation around a possible ceasefire agreement grew after U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said the White House was preparing a draft document that could provide the basis for an agreement.
However, it was unclear what changes to previous proposals were being considered that might overcome the deep differences between Hamas and Israel that have stymied previous attempts to restore a ceasefire deal that broke down in March after only two months.
Israel has insisted that Hamas disarm completely and be dismantled as a military and governing force and that all of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza must come back before it will agree to end the war.
Hamas has rejected the demand to give up its weapons and says Israel must commit to ending the war for a deal to work.
Israel has come under increasing international pressure, with many European countries that have normally been reluctant to criticise Israel openly demanding an end to the war and a major humanitarian relief effort.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in response to the devastating attack on communities in southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023, that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
The campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians and left the enclave in ruins, forcing most of its population to move multiple times, Gaza health officials say.
What happens to Trump’s tariffs now that a court has knocked them down?
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal court in New York handed President Donald Trump a big setback Wednesday, blocking his audacious plan to impose massive taxes on imports from almost every country in the world.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that Trump overstepped his authority when he invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to declare a national emergency and justify the sweeping tariffs.
The tariffs overturned decades of U.S. trade policy, disrupted global commerce, rattled financial markets and raised the risk of higher prices and recession in the United States and around the world.
The U.S. Court of International Trade has jurisdiction over civil cases involving trade. Its decisions can be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington and ultimately to the Supreme Court, where the legal challenges to Trump’ tariffs are widely expected to end up.
Which tariffs did the court block?
The court’s decision blocks the tariffs Trump slapped last month on almost all U.S. trading partners and levies he imposed before that on China, Mexico and Canada.
On April 2, Trump imposed so-called reciprocal tariffs of up to 50% on countries with which the United States runs a trade deficit and 10% baseline tariffs on almost everybody else. He later suspended the reciprocal tariffs for 90 days to give countries time to agree to reduce barriers to U.S. exports. But he kept the baseline tariffs in place. Claiming extraordinary power to act without congressional approval, he justified the taxes under IEEPA by declaring the United States’ longstanding trade deficits “a national emergency.”
In February, he’d invoked the law to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, saying that the illegal flow of immigrants and drugs across the U.S. border amounted to a national emergency and that the three countries needed to do more to stop it.
The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to set taxes, including tariffs. But lawmakers have gradually let presidents assume more power over tariffs — and Trump has made the most of it.
The tariffs are being challenged in at least seven lawsuits. In the ruling Wednesday, the trade court combined two of the cases — one brought by five small businesses and another by 12 U.S. states.
The ruling does leave in place other Trump tariffs, including those on foreign steel, aluminum and autos. But those levies were invoked under a different law that required a Commerce Department investigation and could not be imposed at the president’s own discretion.
Why did the court rule against the president?
The administration had argued that courts had approved then-President Richard Nixon’s emergency use of tariffs in a 1971 economic and financial crisis that arose when the United States suddenly devalued the dollar by ending a policy that linked the U.S. currency to the price of gold. The Nixon administration successfully cited its authority under the 1917 Trading With Enemy Act, which preceded and supplied some of the legal language later used in IEPPA.
The court disagreed, deciding that Trump’s sweeping tariffs exceeded his authority to regulate imports under IEEPA. It also said the tariffs did nothing to deal with problems they were supposed to address. In their case, the states noted that America’s trade deficits hardly amount of a sudden emergency. The United States has racked them up for 49 straight years in good times and bad.
So where does this leave Trump’s trade agenda?
Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade official who is now vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute, says the court’s decision “throws the president’s trade policy into turmoil.”
“Partners negotiating hard during the 90-day day tariff pause period may be tempted to hold off making further concessions to the U.S. until there is more legal clarity,” she said.
Likewise, companies will have to reassess the way they run their supply chains, perhaps speeding up shipments to the United States to offset the risk that the tariffs will be reinstated on appeal.
The trade court noted that Trump retains more limited power to impose tariffs to address trade deficits under another statute, the Trade Act of 1974. But that law restricts tariffs to 15% and only for 150 days with countries with which the United States runs big trade deficits.
For now, the trade court’s ruling “destroys the Trump administration’s rationale for using federal emergency powers to impose tariffs, which oversteps congressional authority and contravenes any notion of due process,” said Eswar Prasad, professor of trade policy at Cornell University. “The ruling makes it clear that the broad tariffs imposed unilaterally by Trump represent an overreach of executive power.’'
Get ready for several years of killer heat, top weather forecasters warn
WASHINGTON (AP) — Get ready for several years of even more record-breaking heat that pushes Earth to more deadly, fiery and uncomfortable extremes, two of the world’s top weather agencies forecast.
There’s an 80% chance the world will break another annual temperature record in the next five years, and it’s even more probable that the world will again exceed the international temperature threshold set 10 years ago, according to a five-year forecast released Wednesday by the World Meteorological Organization and the U.K. Meteorological Office.
“Higher global mean temperatures may sound abstract, but it translates in real life to a higher chance of extreme weather: stronger hurricanes, stronger precipitation, droughts,” said Cornell University climate scientist Natalie Mahowald, who wasn’t part of the calculations but said they made sense. “So higher global mean temperatures translates to more lives lost.”
With every tenth of a degree the world warms from human-caused climate change “we will experience higher frequency and more extreme events (particularly heat waves but also droughts, floods, fires and human-reinforced hurricanes/typhoons),” emailed Johan Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. He was not part of the research.
And for the first time there’s a chance — albeit slight — that before the end of the decade, the world’s annual temperature will shoot past the Paris climate accord goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) and hit a more alarming 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) of heating since the mid-1800s, the two agencies said.
There’s an 86% chance that one of the next five years will pass 1.5 degrees and a 70% chance that the five years as a whole will average more than that global milestone, they figured.
The projections come from more than 200 forecasts using computer simulations run by 10 global centers of scientists.
Ten years ago, the same teams figured there was a similar remote chance — about 1% — that one of the upcoming years would exceed that critical 1.5 degree threshold and then it happened last year. This year, a 2-degree Celsius above pre-industrial year enters the equation in a similar manner, something UK Met Office longer term predictions chief Adam Scaife and scientist Leon Hermanson called “shocking.”
“It’s not something anyone wants to see, but that’s what the science is telling us,” Hermanson said. Two degrees of warming is the secondary threshold, the one considered less likely to break, set by the 2015 Paris agreement.
Technically, even though 2024 was 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial times, the Paris climate agreement’s threshold is for a 20-year time period, so it has not been exceeded. Factoring in the past 10 years and forecasting the next 10 years, the world is now probably about 1.4 degrees Celsius (2.5 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter since the mid 1800s, World Meteorological Organization climate services director Chris Hewitt estimated.
“With the next five years forecast to be more than 1.5C warmer than preindustrial levels on average, this will put more people than ever at risk of severe heat waves, bringing more deaths and severe health impacts unless people can be better protected from the effects of heat. Also we can expect more severe wildfires as the hotter atmosphere dries out the landscape,” said Richard Betts, head of climate impacts research at the UK Met Office and a professor at the University of Exeter.
Ice in the Arctic — which will continue to warm 3.5 times faster than the rest of the world — will melt and seas will rise faster, Hewitt said.
What tends to happen is that global temperatures rise like riding on an escalator, with temporary and natural El Nino weather cycles acting like jumps up or down on that escalator, scientists said. But lately, after each jump from an El Nino, which adds warming to the globe, the planet doesn’t go back down much, if at all.
“Record temperatures immediately become the new normal,” said Stanford University climate scientist Rob Jackson.
Trump criticised after posting AI image of himself as Pope
US President Donald Trump has attracted criticism from some Catholics after posting an AI-generated image of himself as the Pope.
The picture, which was shared by official White House social media accounts, comes as Catholics mourn the death of Pope Francis, who died on 21 April, and prepare to choose the next pontiff.
The New York State Catholic Conference accused Trump of mocking the faith. The post comes days after he joked to reporters: "I'd like to be Pope."
Trump is not the first president to be accused of making a mockery of the Catholic faith. Former US President Joe Biden caused outrage a year ago when he made the sign of the cross at a pro-abortion access rally in Tampa, Florida.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni declined to answer questions about Trump's post during a briefing with journalists on Saturday. The Vatican is preparing to host a conclave to choose Francis's successor beginning on Wednesday.
The image posted by Trump on Friday night features him wearing a white cassock and pointed miter, traditionally worn by a bishop. He wears a large cross around his neck, and has his finger held up, with a solemn facial expression.
The New York State Catholic Conference, which represents bishops in New York, took to X to criticise the picture.
"There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr President," the group wrote.
"We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St Peter. Do not mock us."
Left-leaning Italian former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi also blasted Trump's post.
"This is an image that offends believers, insults institutions and shows that the leader of the right-wing world enjoys clowning around," Renzi wrote in Italian on X.
But the White House rejected any suggestion that the Republican president was making fun of the papacy.
"President Trump flew to Italy to pay his respects to Pope Francis and attend his funeral, and he has been a staunch champion for Catholics and religious liberty," said press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Source - BBC
King Charles and Queen Camilla greet crowds after Easter service
LONDON, April 20 (Reuters) - Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla briefly greeted onlookers after an Easter service at St George's Chapel in Windsor, an important fixture in the calendar of the monarch, who is supreme governor of the Church of England.
Charles and Camilla, who was wearing a pale blue hat and dress, were joined by the Princes Andrew and Edward, Anne, the Princess Royal, and other family members at the 15th Century chapel in the grounds of Windsor Castle.
Prince Andrew's attendance was notable after he was absent from the royals' Christmas service amid scrutiny of his links with an alleged Chinese spy. The scandal-hit prince was accompanied by his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York.
The king's oldest son and heir William, the Prince of Wales, and his wife Catherine were absent. They are spending Easter with their children in Norfolk, east England.
Camilla, who was handed a posy of flowers, wished "Happy Easter" to members of the crowd after the Easter Matins service.
On Thursday, the king used his annual Easter message to reflect on war, human suffering and the heroism of those who risk their lives to help others.
In 2024, the Easter service was Charles' first appearance at a public event following the announcement of his cancer diagnosis in the previous month.
Catherine, Princess of Wales, was also treated for cancer last year. She said in January she was relieved in be in remission.
Exclusive: Huawei readies new AI chip for mass shipment as China seeks Nvidia alternatives, sources say
SINGAPORE/BEIJING, April 21 (Reuters) - Huawei Technologies (HWT.UL) plans to begin mass shipments of its advanced 910C artificial intelligence chip to Chinese customers as early as next month, two people familiar with the matter said.
Some shipments have already been made, they added.
The timing is fortuitous for Chinese AI companies which have been left scrambling for domestic alternatives to the H20, the primary AI chip that Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab had until recently been allowed to sell freely in the Chinese market.
This month, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration told Nvidia that sales of the H20 would require an export licence.
Huawei's 910C, a graphics processing unit (GPU), represents an architectural evolution rather than a technological breakthrough, according to one of the two people and a third source familiar with its design.
It achieves performance comparable to Nvidia's H100 chip by combining two 910B processors into a single package through advanced integration techniques, they said.
That means it has double the computing power and memory capacity of the 910B and it also has incremental improvements, including enhanced support for diverse AI workload data, they added.
All sources were not authorised to speak to media and declined to be identified. Huawei declined to comment on what it called speculation about shipment plans for the 910C and its capabilities.
Seeking to limit China's technological development, particularly advances for its military, Washington has cut China off from Nvidia's most advanced AI products including its flagship B200 chip.
The H100 chip, for example, was banned from sale in China in 2022 by U.S. authorities before it was even launched.
This has allowed Huawei and Chinese GPU startups such as Moore Threads and Iluvatar CoreX to go after what has primarily been a market dominated by Nvidia.
The U.S. Commerce Department's latest export curbs on Nvidia's H20 "will mean that Huawei's Ascend 910C GPU will now become the hardware of choice for (Chinese) AI model developers and for deploying inference capacity," said Paul Triolo, a partner at consulting firm Albright Stonebridge Group.
Late last year, Huawei distributed samples of the 910C to several technology firms and started accepting orders, sources have said.
Reuters was not able to ascertain which companies would be primarily producing the 910C.
China's SMIC (0981.HK), opens new tab is manufacturing some main components of the GPUs using its N+2 7nm process technology although its chip yield rates are low, a source has previously said.
At least some of Huawei's 910C GPUs use semiconductors that were made by TSMC (2330.TW), opens new tab for China-based Sophgo, according to one of the sources and a fourth person.
The Commerce Department has been investigating work done by the Taiwanese contract chip manufacturing giant for Sophgo after one of its TSMC-made chips was found in a 910B processor.
TSMC made nearly three million chips in recent years that matched the design ordered by Sophgo, according to Lennart Heim, a researcher at RAND's Technology and Security and Policy Center in Arlington, Virginia, who is tracking Chinese developments in AI.
Huawei reiterated that it has not used TSMC-made Sophgo chips. Sophgo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
TSMC said it complies with regulatory requirements and it has not supplied Huawei since mid-September 2020.
China warns countries against striking trade deals with US at its expense
BEIJING, April 21 (Reuters) - China on Monday accused Washington of abusing tariffs and warned countries against striking a broader economic deal with the United States at its expense, ratcheting up its rhetoric in a spiralling trade war between the world's two biggest economies.
Beijing will firmly oppose any party striking a deal at China's expense and "will take countermeasures in a resolute and reciprocal manner," its Commerce Ministry said.
The ministry was responding to a Bloomberg report, citing sources familiar with the matter, that the Trump administration is preparing to pressure nations seeking tariff reductions or exemptions from the U.S. to curb trade with China, including imposing monetary sanctions.
President Donald Trump paused the sweeping tariffs he announced on dozens of countries on April 2 except those on China, singling out the world's second largest economy for the biggest levies.
In a series of moves, Washington has raised tariffs on Chinese imports to 145%, prompting Beijing to slap retaliatory duties of 125% on U.S. goods, effectively erecting trade embargoes against each other. Last week, China signalled that its own across-the-board rates would not rise further.
"The United States has abused tariffs on all trading partners under the banner of so-called 'equivalence', while also forcing all parties to start so-called 'reciprocal tariffs' negotiations with them," the ministry spokesperson said.
China is determined and capable of safeguarding its own rights and interests, and is willing to strengthen solidarity with all parties, the ministry said.
"The fact is, nobody wants to pick a side," said Bo Zhengyuan, partner at China-based policy consultancy Plenum.
"If countries have high reliance on China in terms of investment, industrial infrastructure, technology know-how and consumption, I don't think they'll be buying into U.S. demands. Many Southeast Asian countries belong to this category."
Pursuing a hardline stance, Beijing will this week convene an informal United Nations Security Council meeting to accuse Washington of bullying and "casting a shadow over the global efforts for peace and development" by weaponizing tariffs.
Earlier this month, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said nearly 50 countries have approached him to discuss the steep additional tariffs imposed by Trump.
Several bilateral talks on tariffs have taken place since, with Japan considering raising soybean and rice imports as part of its talks with the U.S. while Indonesia is planning to increase U.S. food and commodities imports and reduce orders from other nations.
CAUGHT IN CROSSFIRE
Trump's tariff policies have rattled financial markets as investors fear a severe disruption in world trade could tip the global economy into recession.
On Monday, Chinese stocks inched higher, showing little reaction to the commerce ministry comments, though investors have generally remained cautious on Chinese assets due to the rising growth risks.
The Trump administration also has been trying to curb Beijing's progress in developing advanced semiconductor chips which it says could be used for military purposes, and last week imposed port fees on China-built vessels to limit China's dominance in shipbuilding.
AI chip giant Nvidia said last week it would take $5.5 billion in charges due to the administration's curbs on AI chip exports.
China's President Xi Jinping visited three Southeast Asian countries last week in a move to bolster regional ties, calling on trade partners to oppose unilateral bullying.
Beijing has said it is "tearing down walls" and expanding its circle of trading partners amid the trade row.
The stakes are high for Southeast Asian nations caught in the crossfire of the Sino-U.S. tariff war, particularly given the regional ASEAN bloc's huge two-way trade with both China and the United States.
Economic ministers from Thailand and Indonesia are currently in the United States, with Malaysia set to join later this week, all seeking trade negotiations.
Six countries in Southeast Asia were hit with tariffs ranging from 32% to 49%, threatening trade-reliant economies that have benefited from investment from levies imposed on Beijing by Trump in his first term.
ASEAN is China's largest trading partner, with total trade value reaching $234 billion in the first quarter of 2025, China's customs agency said last week.
Trade between ASEAN and the U.S. totalled around $476.8 billion in 2024, according to U.S. figures, making Washington the regional bloc's fourth-largest trading partner.
"There are no winners in trade wars and tariff wars," Xi said in an article published in Vietnamese media, without mentioning the United States.