China does not anticipate that the tariffs imposed by former U.S. President Donald Trump will have an impact on the operations of two significant Chinese companies in Serbia — Zijin in Bor and HBIS in Smederevo, according to Chinese Ambassador to Serbia, Li Ming. The ambassador emphasized that Chinese investments in Serbia have been creating thousands of jobs and are expected to continue growing in the future.
Ambassador Li highlighted that trade between Serbia and China has been thriving, with Serbia’s exports to China increasing by 38.8 percent last year. Overall trade between the two countries rose by 31 percent during the same period.
“China and Serbia have a strong foundation for cooperation, grounded in mutual respect, equality, and benefits for both sides. I am confident that external factors will not negatively affect the relationship between our two countries,” the ambassador said in an interview with RTS. He further emphasized that the “steel friendship” between China and Serbia would continue to foster security and stability globally.
Regarding the operations of the steel plant in Smederevo and the mining company Ziđin in Bor, Li Ming assured that these projects would remain unaffected by the U.S. tariffs. He pointed out that these companies do not primarily target the U.S. market for exports, so the impact of the tariffs would be minimal.
On April 9, U.S. President Donald Trump approved a 90-day delay on import tariffs for all countries except China. In conjunction with this, Trump raised the customs duty on imports from China to 125 percent, escalating the ongoing trade conflict between the two largest economies in the world.
In response, China retaliated by imposing its own tariffs of 125 percent on U.S. imports, further intensifying the trade war. Despite these developments, Ambassador Li remains optimistic that the growing bilateral cooperation between China and Serbia will not be significantly disrupted.
