The British government's tariff agreement reached last week with the United States could harm China.

It said, "there is no veto power on Chinese investment."

The UK-US agreement gradually reviews President Donald Trump's extensive hikes for metals and cars, but it also includes demands that Britain "quickly meet" the U.S. "safety chain" for steel and aluminum products.

Beijing is concerned that it may find it being excluded from offering U.S.-bound goods to the UK, and told the Financial Times that it is a "basic principle" that bilateral trade agreements should not target other countries.

Inquiry on the UK-US and India trade agreements were conducted on Tuesday, during a regular press conference by a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Lin Jian said: "As for the trade agreement between the UK and relevant countries, I would like to point out that cooperation between countries should not be directed to or harm the interests of third parties."

China is the world's second largest economy and the fifth largest trading partner of the United Kingdom. In 2024, the total bilateral trade volume reached 98.4 billion pounds.

In response to China's latest comments, the British government said the deal with the United States was "in national interest, thousands of work could be secured in key sectors, protect British businesses and lay the foundation for greater trade in the future".

It said any "external provision" in the agreement was "designated to undermine the reciprocal economic relations with any third country."

“As the chief secretary of the Ministry of Finance clearly stated, there is no veto on China’s investment in this trade agreement.”

It added: “Trade and investment with China remain important to the UK.”

According to the UK-US deal, Trump's blankets' 10% tariff on imports from countries around the world still applies to most British goods entering the US.

However, the deal reduced or removed tariffs on some UK exports, including steel and aluminum.

The terms of the agreement state that the UK will “work to quickly meet the safety requirements of the U.S. for the supply chain of steel and aluminum products designed to be exported to the U.S., as well as the nature of ownership of the related production facilities”.

Since the beginning of this year, the United States and China have begun a tariff war.

The money the United States bought from China ($440 billion) is more than the one sold ($14.5 billion), which Trump has long been unhappy with.

His reasoning was partly to introduce tariffs, and to sell more countries in the United States, which was to encourage American consumers to buy more American-made goods, increase the amount of taxes and promote manufacturing efforts.

However, on Monday, Trump said weekend talks between the United States and China led to a "all reset" in terms of trade between the two countries, with tariffs either being cut or suspended.

The result is that the additional tariffs on Chinese imports – an additional tariff imposed in the recent standoff – will be reduced from 145% to 30%, while the recent hikes by China on US imports will be reduced from 125% to 10%.

The move is seen as helping to eliminate the trade war between the world's two largest economies.