China imposes tariffs up to 25% on 128 US products
COUNTERMEASURE Levies add up to $3 bn, equals losses caused by US duties BEIJING:
Beijing on Monday imposed tariffs between 15% and 25% on 128 US products including pork, wine and fruits in a “countermeasure” against Washington slapping duties on steel and aluminium from China recently.
The move was meant to “safeguard China’s interests” and balance the losses triggered by the US move.
“China advocates and supports a multilateral trade system, the ministry said, noting that to suspend tariff concession on US imports is a just move to safeguard China’s interests,” the statement said.
The ministry of finance (MoF) said the move to remove the concessions was a “countermeasure in response to a previous US move to slap tariffs on steel and aluminium products”.
The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council, China’s cabinet, imposed a tariff of 15 percent on 120 items of products imported from the US including fruits and related products, and a tariff of 25 percent on eight items of imports including pork and related products from the country.
The finance ministry statement added that despite worldwide objections, the “US administration decided to impose a 25% tariff on steel imports and a 10% tariff on aluminium, with tariffs on imports from countries including China.”
“Although in violation of WTO rules, the US measure went into effect in March 23, which has severely undermined China’s interests, according to the statement,” it said.
According to Chinese state media, the new tariffs imposed by China add up to some $3 billion, which equals losses caused by the US duties on Chinese goods.
According to a BBC report from Washington, the Donald Trump administration has announced plans for “targeted tariffs for tens of billions of dollars of Chinese imports”.
China doesn’t want a trade war but will not retreat from it if forced into one, state media reports said.
“It is time for Washington to bid farewell to the fantasy it has long been living in, a delusional world of make-believe whereby it imagines China as an unresponsive nation and tolerant toward US tariffs,” the nationalistic tabloid Global Times said in an editorial on Monday.
“China does not want a trade war, but it will not retreat should one emerge. Today’s announcement is hardly a subtle intimation. Instead, China will show its strength through action as they are on the defensive due to their current level of confidence required to take on all challenges,” it said.
Calling the US decision hypocritical, the editorial said: “How ironic that US hypocritical behaviour has become a White House election strategy used to gain domestic votes. As for the Chinese government, it only wants to know how it can best serve its people while protecting the country’s interests”.
The Trump administration this week will unveil the list of Chinese imports targeted for US tariffs to punish Beijing over technology transfer policies, a move expected to intensify trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
The list of $50 billion to $60 billion worth of annual imports is expected to target “largely high-technology” products and it may be more than two months before tariffs take effect, administration officials have said.
The US trade representative’s office needs to unveil the list of products by Friday under President Donald Trump’s China tariff proclamation signed on March 22.
The tariffs are aimed at forcing changes to Chinese government policies that the US trade representative says results in the “uneconomic” transfer of US intellectual property to Chinese companies.
The agency’s “Section 301” investigation authorising the tariffs alleges China has systematically sought to misappropriate US intellectual property through joint venture requirements, unfair technology licensing rules, purchases of US technology firms with state funding and outright theft.
WASHINGTON: