Measures unveiled to aid firms hit by tariffs

China will use funds collected from tariffs charged on shipments from the United States to reduce the impact of US trade move on Chinese companies and their employees, the Ministry of Commerce announced late on Monday.

The ministry said in a statement that the government will encourage companies to increase imports of goods including automobile, aquatic products and soybeans from other markets.

China’s latest action came after the US government started to impose punitive tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese imports on Friday. China then retaliated by levying duties of the same amount to defend its interests.

A spokesperson from the ministry said China will continuously assess the impact on various types of companies. The country will also optimize the use of foreign investment and promotion of high-quality economic development, as well as strengthening protection of the legitimate rights and interests of its companies and people.

China’s move shows that the country is deploying resources to help its manufacturers to ease the impact from the irrational US trade policies and guide domestic companies to seek new import channels from markets such as Germany, Brazil and South Korea, said Ma Yu, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

Sang Baichuan, a professor of international trade at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said China is taking strong countermeasures to continued US unilateralism.

“Many US multinationals don’t really care about the trade surplus as they only want to continue doing business with China. What the Trump administration wants is not what US companies want,” said Xue Rongjiu, deputy director of Beijingbased China Society for WTO Studies.

China has shown all possible goodwill and sincerity in trade talks with the US, but a capricious US government is making trouble not only for China and global economies, but for the US as well, he said.