Xia's comment on Tuesday came after Vice President JD Vance said this month that Americans, through Chinese purchases of U.S. government bonds, essentially "borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy things those Chinese peasants manufacture." A senior Chinese official warned Tuesday that President Donald Trump's tariffs would backfire and that soon, "those peasants in the U.S." would "wail in front of the 5,000 years of Chinese civilization." The remarks are the latest Chinese repudiation of Trump's global trade war as Beijing shifts gears from attempting to communicate with the White House to hitting back frequently and forcefully in an effort to cast the United States as an irresponsible global power.