Donald Trump has announced a 25% tariff on $50bn of Chinese goods, escalating trade tensions a day after Beijing officials warned China was preparing to retaliate. The move, after a long war of words, escalates the possibility of a full trade war between the world’s two leading economies.
China responded by saying it plans to impose tariff measures of similar size and intensity.S
In a statement, the White House said the tariffs would be levied on goods that “contain industrially significant technologies”. The administration warned it would pursue further levies if China retaliates.
Trump said the US’s trade relationship with China was “no longer sustainable”.
“My great friendship with President Xi [Jinping] of China and our country’s relationship with China are both very important to me,” said Trump. “Trade between our nations, however, has been very unfair, for a very long time.
“The United States can no longer tolerate losing our technology and intellectual property through unfair economic practices.”
In a statement on its website, the Chinese commerce ministry said: “China is unwilling to have a trade war, but the Chinese side has no choice but to strongly oppose this, due to the United States’ myopic behaviour that will harm both parties.”
The measures harm the interests of both countries and disrupt world trade order, the statement said, adding: “We will immediately introduce tariff measures of the same scale and strength. All the results from the negotiations previously reached by the two parties will be invalid.”
Trump met his top trade advisers on Thursday to decide when to activate the tariffs, which come as relations with other major trading partners, Canada, the EU and Mexico, have worsened following a fractious meeting of the G7 leaders.
Earlier this week, Trump told Fox News he was “very strongly clamping down on trade” with China. Speaking to Fox & Friends on the North Lawn on Friday, he said: “We’re getting on great with China, probably until this morning because we just did a big tariff on China, but that’s OK because I have a wonderful relationship with President Xi. We’ll all work it out. He understands it’s unfair.
“They can’t believe they got away with it for so long. They can’t believe it. They got away with it for 25 years. I’m not just blaming Obama – I’m blaming many presidents and leaders. It should’ve never happened.”
Some 1,300 product categories were expected to be targeted for the 25% US levy. Full details will be published next week but the statement makes clear that the tariffs will hit “emerging high-technology industries that will drive future economic growth for China, but hurt economic growth for the United States and many other countries”.
The move is aimed at cutting the US trade deficit with China. China attempted to lessen the levies earlier this month by offering to purchase about $70bn worth of commodities and manufactured goods.
On Thursday China’s top diplomat, state councillor Wang Yi, said there were two choices when it came to the trade issue.
“The first choice is cooperation and mutual benefit” Wang said. “The other choice is confrontation and mutual loss. China chooses the first. We hope the US side can also make the same wise choice. Of course, we have also made preparations to respond to the second kind of choice.”
His comments followed a meeting in Beijing with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Pompeo said talks had gone well but that the deficit with China was still too high.
Earlier this week, Trump told Fox News he was “very strongly clamping down on trade” with China. Speaking to Fox & Friends on the North Lawn on Friday, he said: “We’re getting on great with China, probably until this morning because we just did a big tariff on China, but that’s OK because I have a wonderful relationship with President Xi. We’ll all work it out. He understands it’s unfair.
“They can’t believe they got away with it for so long. They can’t believe it. They got away with it for 25 years. I’m not just blaming Obama – I’m blaming many presidents and leaders. It should’ve never happened.”
Some 1,300 product categories were expected to be targeted for the 25% US levy. Full details will be published next week but the statement makes clear that the tariffs will hit
“emerging high-technology industries that will drive future economic growth for China, but hurt economic growth for the United States and many other countries”.
The move is aimed at cutting the US trade deficit with China. China attempted to lessen the levies earlier this month by offering to purchase about $70bn worth of commodities and manufactured goods.
On Thursday China’s top diplomat, state councillor Wang Yi, said there were two choices when it came to the trade issue.
“The first choice is cooperation and mutual benefit” Wang said. “The other choice is confrontation and mutual loss. China chooses the first. We hope the US side can also make the same wise choice. Of course, we have also made preparations to respond to the second kind of choice.”
His comments followed a meeting in Beijing with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Pompeo said talks had gone well but that the deficit with China was still too high.
“I stressed how important it is for President Trump to rectify that situation so that trade becomes more balanced, more reciprocal and more fair, with the opportunity to have American workers be treated fairly,” Pompeo said.
“We had good and constructive discussions.”
Source
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/15/trump-50bn-china-tariffs
