China announced that it would take retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion of goods imported from the United States. The trade war has escalated sharply as the Trump administration considers imposing tariffs on almost all Chinese goods.
China’s Ministry of Finance issued a statement on its website saying that China’s retaliatory tariffs will take effect on September 24 and will impose an additional 5% or 10% levy on more than 5,000 tax items originating in the United States, ranging from meat to wheat and textiles. % tariff. The statement stated that China hopes that the United States will stop trade friction and resolve trade tensions through dialogue.
Almost at the same time as China announced the above-mentioned tariff measures, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on Tuesday to take more countermeasures against China if China retaliates against politically influential U.S. agricultural products. .
“China has publicly stated that they are actively trying to influence and change our elections by targeting our farmers, ranchers, and industrial workers because they are loyal to me,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “What China doesn’t understand is that these people are great patriots.”
In a statement released on Monday, Trump ordered the government to impose an additional 10% tariff on approximately $200 billion in Chinese goods starting from September 24. If China does not make concessions on trade issues, the tariffs will be increased from January next year. More than doubled. Prior to this, the United States had imposed an additional 25% tariff on approximately US$50 billion of Chinese goods, and incited China to retaliate with tariffs on US$50 billion of US goods.
China’s tariff actions against US$60 billion of US goods include imposing a 5% tariff on about 1,600 tax items such as small aircraft, computers, and textiles, and 3,500 items including chemicals, meat, wheat, wine, and liquefied natural gas. Many tax items are subject to an additional 10% tariff. According to a statement issued by China in August, these products originally faced an additional tax rate of up to 25%.
Stock markets were indifferent to the escalation in trade tensions, with the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite all rising. Some investors said it may be that the market had already expected a 10% tax rate and expected the situation to be worse.
Trump said on Monday that if Beijing retaliates against U.S. agriculture and industry, the United States will immediately seek to impose further tariffs on approximately $267 billion in Chinese goods. Coupled with previous rounds of tariffs, the amount involved will exceed the total U.S. imports of goods from China of approximately $505 billion last year.
The Trump administration’s final tariff list for $200 billion of Chinese goods removed 300 items from the preliminary list, including smart watches and Bluetooth devices, bicycle helmets, high chairs, child car safety seats and baby guardrails.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Ross said that the Trump administration’s design of the final tax list is to help ensure that American consumers do not feel pressure.
“We’re trying to do the least harm to consumers,” Ross told CNBC. “We are really evaluating item by item, trying to find items that can achieve the purpose of punishing China while causing the least damage to the United States.” (Title: China will impose tariffs on US$60 billion in US goods, further expanding the trade war)
