The United States on Friday officially adopted tariffs on a long list of goods produced in China, prompting swift retaliation from Beijing.
Just after midnight in Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump and his administration imposed a 25 percent duty on a long list of Chinese products with a yearly import value of roughly $34 billion, the first of two separate possible sets of tariffs on imports from China. The second tranche, which is still subject to a public notice and comment period, comprises items with an annual import value of roughly $16 billion.
Both sets of U.S. tariffs are aimed primarily at products identified as containing technologies that benefit from China’s “Made in China 2025” industrial policy.
China waited for the U.S. measures to come into force before immediately pushing back, levying an additional 25 percent tariff on U.S. exports ranging from agricultural goods like soybeans to manufactured products like automobiles.
Although both actions were largely expected after months of public back-and-forth between Trump and trade officials in China, what remains to be seen is whether the so-called trade war will escalate further.
China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement shortly after the official adoption of the U.S. tariffs, “The United States violated the WTO rules and launched the largest trade war in economic history to date. This kind of taxation is a typical trade bullyingism, which is seriously jeopardizing the global industrial chain and value chain security, hindering the pace of global economic recovery, triggering global market turmoil, and will affect more innocent multinational corporations, general enterprises and ordinary countries. Consumers will not only be helpless, but will also harm the interests of American businesses and people.
“The Chinese side promised not to fire the first shot, but in order to defend the core interests of the country and the interests of the people, they had to be forced to make the necessary counterattacks,” the ministry added. “We will promptly inform the WTO about the situation and work with countries around the world to jointly safeguard free trade and the multilateral system.”