China is to impose a matching 34 percent tariffs on all U.S. imports, plus export controls, and trade restrictions, in response to the U.S. move to impose a 34 percent "reciprocal tariff" on Chinese imports, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce announced on Friday.
The spokesperson said that the U.S. imposition of so-called "reciprocal tariffs" seriously violates WTO rules, harms the legitimate rights and interests of the WTO members, and undermines the multilateral trade system and global economic order.
Calling it a typical act of unilateral bullying that threatens global trade stability, China has filed a complaint against the U.S. move under the WTO dispute settlement mechanism, the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council announced on Friday that the imposition of the 34-percent tariffs on all products imported from the United States would take effect on 12:01, April 10, while the U.S. imposition is set to take effect on April 9.
Also on Friday, the Ministry of Commerce issued announcement No.18 of 2025, imposing export controls on seven types of middle-heavy rare earth elements, including samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium.
The Ministry of Commerce also issued announcement No.21 of 2025, adding 16 U.S. military-related entities to the export control list, prohibiting the export of dual-use items to these entities.
The work mechanism for the unreliable entity list issued announcement No.7 of 2025, which added 11 U.S. companies on the unreliable entity list, prohibiting them from engaging in import and export activities related to China, and prohibiting them from making new investments in China.
The Ministry of Commerce issued announcements No.19 and No.20 of 2025, launching an anti-dumping investigation into imported medical CT tubes originating from the U.S. and other regions, and initiating China's first industry competitiveness investigation into imported medical CT tubes.
Also on Friday, the General Administration of Customs issued announcements No.54 and No.55, stating that in order to protect the health of Chinese consumers and ensure the safety of China's livestock production, it has decided to suspend the qualification of one U.S. company for exporting sorghum to China, suspend the qualification of three U.S. companies for exporting poultry bone meal to China, and suspend the export of poultry products to China from two U.S. companies, as their imports are found problematic in the inspection and quarantine.
China to control export, restrict trade with US plus tariffs
China to control export, restrict trade with US plus tariffs
A video featuring a former member of Unit 731, a notorious Japanese germ-warfare unit during World War II (WWII), was released on Thursday in northeast China's Harbin, revealing details of how the unit used meteorological data to conduct horrific bacterial experiments on human beings.
The video was released by the Exhibition Hall of Evidence of Crimes Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army, in which former Unit 731 member Tsuruo Nishijima detailed how the unit used meteorological data to carry out a bacterial dispersal experiment.
The video was recorded in 1997 by Japanese scholar Fuyuko Nishisato and donated to the exhibition hall in 2019, according to the hall, which was built on the former site of the headquarters of Unit 731 in Harbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang Province.
Jin Shicheng, director of the Department of Publicity, Education and Exhibition of the exhibition hall, said that Nishijima joined Unit 731 in October 1938 and served in the unit's meteorological squad. The squad was not a simple observation section but rather an auxiliary force supporting the unit's field human experiments by measuring wind direction, wind speed, and other conditions to ensure optimal experimental results, according to Jin.
Nishijima confirmed in the footage that "the meteorological squad had to be present at every field experiment." He testified to the "rainfall experiments" conducted by Unit 731, which involved aircraft releasing bacterial agents at extremely low altitudes.
At a field-testing site in Anda City, Heilongjiang, Unit 731 aircraft descended to about 50 meters above the ground. They sprayed bacterial culture liquids onto "maruta" -- human test subjects -- who were tied to wooden stakes. Each experiment involved about 30 people, spaced roughly 5 meters apart. After the experiments, the victims were loaded into sealed trucks and transported back to the unit, where their symptoms and disease progression were recorded over a period of several days.
"Unit 731's bacterial weapons were dropped by aircraft from a height of 50 meters in the open air. Therefore, the meteorological squad needed to observe wind direction and speed, which directly affected the precision and accuracy of the bacterial weapons deployment," said Jin.
Nishijima recounted the harrowing experience of the human test subjects.
"They were fully aware that inhaling the substances would certainly lead to death, so they closed their eyes and held their breath to avoid breathing them in. Their resistance prevented the experiment from proceeding. To compel them to comply, they were forced at gunpoint to open their mouths and lift their heads," said Nishijima.
These experiments, disguised as "scientific research," were in fact systematic tests of biological warfare weapons conducted by the Japanese military. The data generated from these inhumane activities became "research findings" shared among the Japanese army medical school, the medical community, and the military at large.
"At that time, the entire Japanese medical community tacitly approved, encouraged, and even participated in the criminal acts of Unit 731. The unit comprised members from Japan's medical and academic sectors who served the Japanese war of aggression against China. Thus, Unit 731 was not just a military unit but represented an organized and systematic criminal enterprise operating from the top down," said Jin.
Unit 731 was a top-secret biological and chemical warfare research base established in Harbin as the nerve center for Japanese biological warfare in China and Southeast Asia during WWII.
At least 3,000 people were used for human experiments by Unit 731, and Japan's biological weapons killed more than 300,000 people in China.
Video offers details of Japan's germ-warfare crimes in northeast China
