China's Ministry of Commerce on Thursday urged the United States to immediately repeal its Section 232 tariff measures on drones and drone parts, saying the measures severely harm the interests of Chinese enterprises and disrupt cooperation in global drone industrial and supply chains.

China has consistently maintained that the U.S. Section 232 measures constitute unilateralism and protectionism carried out under the pretext of "national security," said commerce ministry spokesperson He Yadong at a regular media conference in response to a question concerning the U.S. decision to impose the tariffs.

In fact, Chinese drones exported to the United States are mainly used in civilian applications, including agriculture, equipment inspection, and film and television entertainment, He said.

He said the U.S. Section 232 measures overstretch the concept of national security, impose differentiated tariff rates on trading partners, and discriminate against relevant Chinese products.

The measures further undermine a market environment featuring fair competition, the spokesperson said. "China firmly opposes this."

At the media conference, the spokesperson also responded to the U.S. allegation of a "shadow transshipment network," calling it a false narrative and fabrication.

He said that the U.S. report entitled "The Great Transshipment Scam: Rise, Scope, and Costs" disregards the facts and distorts right and wrong by denouncing normal international trade and investment as a "scam."

This is a typical act of unilateralism and protectionism aimed at suppressing and blocking Chinese products, the spokesperson said. "China is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposed to this."

He said that, in fact, it is the United States' excessively high and differentiated tariffs that are the fundamental cause of the threats to the security of global supply chains.

By attributing its domestic economic problems to external factors, the United States will not be able to resolve its own deep-seated problems, He said.

China urges the United States to immediately stop its irresponsible accusations, stop undermining China-U.S. economic and trade relations, and genuinely safeguard the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains, the spokesperson said.

He said China has always complied with international economic and trade rules and will continue to conduct economic and trade cooperation with all parties on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, jointly build a trade network of mutual benefit and win-win outcomes, and make positive contributions to global development and prosperity.