China said tariffs should not be used as a weapon Donald Trump threatened to impose more of them in retaliation for China’s handling of the coronavirus.

Tariffs, in general, hurt all parties involved, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said: “So the U.S. should stop thinking it can use tariffs as a weapon and a big stick to coerce other countries”.

Trump said on Friday that raising tariffs on China was “certainly an option” as he considers ways to retaliate for the coronavirus pandemic.

China’s economy shrank 6.8% in the first quarter as economic activity largely ground to a halt because of lockdowns ordered to stop the virus, and it would suffer more pain if the United States were to impose more tariffs.

Hua urged the U.S. not to try to divert attention from its own mismanagement of its coronavirus epidemic by shifting blame onto China.

“What has the U.S. done in the past few months? How did it allow the outbreak to develop to the stage today? Is this how a government should be responsible to its people?”, - she asked.