Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Thursday China will adhere to opening up, and firmly support the principle of free trade and the multilateral trading system no matter how the external environment may evolve at a regular press conference when responding to a question about the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)'s cutting of the global economic growth forecast due to certain countries' trade barriers.

"Trade barriers including tariffs serve nobody's interests and are not conducive to the prosperity and stability of world economy. Disagreements on trade and business should be resolved through dialogue and consultation, and the world economy should not pay the price," Mao said.

China is committed to supporting the universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, and pursuing common development and win-win with all countries, Mao noted. 

Amid "higher trade barriers in several G20 economies and increased geopolitical and policy uncertainty weighing on investment and household spending," the OECD on Monday downgraded the global GDP growth forecast from 3.2 percent in 2024 to 3.1 percent in 2025 and 3.0 percent in 2026.

Annual GDP growth in the US is projected to slow to 2.2 percent in 2025 and 1.6 percent in 2026. Euro area GDP growth is projected to be 1.0 percent in 2025 and 1.2 percent in 2026, as heightened uncertainty keeps growth subdued, according to the OECD.

However, the organization has raised its forecast for China's economic growth to 4.8 percent for 2025 from the previous projection of 4.7 percent in December.

High uncertainty

"Uncertainty today is unusually elevated," US Federal Reserve (Fed) chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday (US time), while saying that Fed officials are expecting US economic growth of just 1.7 percent this year, down from the 2.1 percent previously anticipated in December.

Powell said that the Fed will keep interest rates unchanged, waiting for greater clarity. "Looking ahead, the new administration is in the process of implementing significant policy changes in four distinct areas: trade, immigration, fiscal policy, and regulation… While there have been recent developments in some of these areas, especially trade policy, uncertainty around the changes and their effects on the economic outlook is high," he said.

Meanwhile, the US government's plan to revive US shipbuilding using massive fees on China-linked ship visits to American ports is causing US coal inventories to swell and stoking uncertainty in the embattled agriculture market, as exporters struggle to find ships to send goods abroad, Reuters reported on Thursday.

"What has the US got from a trade war or tariff war? This is just the consequence of the US engaging in unilateralism and protectionism. The Chinese have a proverb: 'you lift a rock only to drop it on your own foot'," Gao Lingyun, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday.

"The capricious policies of the US government will ultimately result in American businesses and consumers paying higher prices, thereby sacrificing their welfare," Gao said.

"This is not going to reindustrialize America," CNN reported on Tuesday over the US' tariff policy, when citing Mary Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Reshoring manufacturing at the scale the US president has talked about cannot happen over the next four years, since it's never been attempted in a globally integrated country like the US, according to Lovely. High tariffs will also bring pain as farmers and other exporters lose customers, lay off workers and go bankrupt in the trade war, she said, according to the report.

"As the US continues to threaten sweeping 'reciprocal' tariffs on April 4, including on the EU and Canada, the US will likely force other economies to reduce economic and trade cooperation with the world's largest economy. As a result, other economies may eventually form a new non-US-dominated international trading system," Gao said.

Backlash spreads

In addition to domestic woes, the US government's policy changes are even causing backlash among some of its allies. British media outlet The Independent reported on Tuesday that thousands have joined a growing movement across Europe and Canada to boycott US products, with many net users joining Facebook groups to exchange ideas about how to avoid US products and find alternatives.

Since February, several European groups have emerged on Facebook, trying specifically to help consumers buy European products rather than US ones. A Danish group called "Boykot varer fra USA" had 90,000 members, while a Swedish group called "Bojkotta varor fran USA" had around 81,000 members by Thursday.

It remains unclear how far the boycott campaigns will go and how significant their impact will be as of now. However, US electric vehicle giant Tesla has reportedly experienced a sharp decline in sales. Tesla car sales in Germany fell by 76 percent in February, with a 24 percent drop in the Netherlands, 42 percent in Sweden, 48 percent in both Norway and Denmark, 45 percent in France, 55 percent in Italy, 10 percent in Spain and 53 percent in Portugal, Reuters reported on March 5, citing official data.

"As the US' unilateral tariffs anger European buyers, they are bound to respond strongly. What many Europeans are doing is not just making a consumption choice but taking a stand against US bullying," He Weiwen, a senior fellow at the Center for China and Globalization, told the Global Times.

The negative impacts of US' unilateral tariffs will likely exceed Washington's expectations, and its "America First" policy will deepen divisions between the US and the EU, He said.

Moreover, Washington's actions and their impact will go beyond economics, as shown in the example of Canada. The US administration's suggestion of using "economic force" to make Canada the 51st US state has already drawn firm opposition from Canadian officials, according to BBC.

"This shows that for the US government, tariffs are not just an economic tool but a strategic tool that risks infringing on other countries' national sovereignty," Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times, warning of potential disruption and damages caused by US' sweeping tariffs to other countries and international order.