US 'reciprocal tariffs' to inflict huge damages on poorest economies: Chinese minister

China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao warned on Friday that the flurry of tariff hikes announced by the United States could inflict severe harm on developing and the least-developed countries (LDCs), potentially triggering humanitarian disasters.

In a video call with World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Wang highlighted the growing global uncertainty and instability fueled by the U.S. latest wave of "reciprocal tariffs", noting that they are causing chaos both internationally and within the United States itself.

Wang described these tariffs as groundless and "a typical form of unilateral bullying", emphasizing that they would cause significant harm to developing nations, particularly the most vulnerable economies, and could even trigger humanitarian crises in some regions.

The two officials also exchanged views on upholding the multilateral trading system and strengthening the role of the WTO in resolving trade disputes.

Wang condemned the U.S. measures as a grave violation of the WTO's most fundamental and core rules including most-favored-nation treatment, non-discrimination, and bound tariff rates, arguing that they are disrupting the international economic and trading order and undermining the very foundation of the multilateral trading system.

China's decisive countermeasures are taken not only to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests but also to uphold fairness and justice for the international community, the minister said.

US 'reciprocal tariffs' to inflict huge damages on poorest economies: Chinese minister

US 'reciprocal tariffs' to inflict huge damages on poorest economies: Chinese minister

US 'reciprocal tariffs' to inflict huge damages on poorest economies: Chinese minister

US 'reciprocal tariffs' to inflict huge damages on poorest economies: Chinese minister

China's Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the country's northwest on Sunday, sending three astronauts to its orbiting space station.

The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, lifted off from the launch site at 23:08 Beijing Time (15:08 GMT).

The crew members consist of mission commander Zhu Yangzhu, and fellow astronauts Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying, who is also the first astronaut from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

In another notable first, one of the crew members is set to undertake a year-long stay aboard the space station, double the usual duration of previous Shenzhou missions.

After entering orbit, the Shenzhou-23 spaceship will perform a fast automated rendezvous and docking with the radial port of the space station core module Tianhe, forming a combination of three modules and three spacecraft.

Shenzhou-23 marks the 40th flight of China's manned spaceflight program and the seventh manned flight mission since the Tiangong space station entered its application and development phase in late 2022.

China launches Shenzhou-23 manned spaceship