China slaps tariffs on 106 US products
CHINA INITIATES WTO DISPUTE PROCEDURE
TRADE WAR Beijing announces measures of equal intensity with 25% levy on key US imports including soybeans, autos
China hit back on Wednesday at the Trump administration’s plan to slap tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods, retaliating with a list of similar duties on key U.S. imports including soybeans, planes, cars, whiskey and chemicals.
Beijing’s list of 25% additional tariffs on US goods covers 106 items with a trade value matching the $50 billion targeted on Washington’s list, China’s commerce and finance ministries said.
The effective date will depend on when the US action takes effect.
The announcement triggered further heavy selling in global stock markets and commodities, with US stock futures sliding 1.5%, soybean futures plunging 3.7% and the dollar briefly extending early losses. China’s yuan skidded in offshore trade.
The scale of China’s tariff targets was in line with Beijing’s pledge to mount a commensurate response, but it was released sooner than many observers had expected, adding to market fears that world’s two largest economies are spiraling towards a trade war that could shake the global economy.
Unlike Washington’s list, which was filled with many obscure industrial items, China’s list strikes at signature US exports.
Hours earlier, the US government unveiled a detailed breakdown of some 1,300 Chinese industrial, transport and medical goods that could be subject to 25% duties, ranging from lightemitting diodes to chemicals and machine parts.
Washington’s move, broadly flagged last month, is aimed at forcing Beijing to address what Washington says is deeply entrenched theft of US intellectual property and forced technology transfer from US companies to Chinese competitors, charges Chinese officials deny.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China had shown sincerity in wanting to resolve the trade dispute through negotiations.
“But the best opportunities for resolving the issues through dialogue and negotiations have been repeatedly missed by the US side,” he told a regular briefing on Wednesday.
“We regret that soybeans are on the list. We have done everything to prebvent this from happening, but we are still calling for a resolution,” said Zhang Xiaoping, China director of the US Soybean Export Council told Reuters.
USTR developed the tariff targets using a computer algorithm designed to choose products that would inflict maximum pain on Chinese exporters, but limit the damage to US consumers.
A USTR official said the list got an initial scrub by removing products identified as likely to cause disruptions to the US economy and those that needed to be excluded for legal reasons.
“The remaining products were ranked according to the likely impact on US consumers, based on available trade data involving alternative country sources for each product,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
US President Donald Trump denied on Wednesday that the United States was in a trade war with China, hours after Beijing slapped tariffs on a list of US imports in retaliation for similar duties levied by the White House one day earlier.
“We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the US,” Trump wrote in a post on Twitter.
REUTERS
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NOT IN A TRADE WAR WITH CHINA, TWEETS TRUMP WASHINGTON:
USTR did include some key consumer products from China, including flat-panel television sets and motor vehicles, both electric and gasoline-powered with engines of 3 litres or less.
A Reuters analysis that compared listed products with 2017 Census Bureau import data showed $3.9 billion in flat-panel television imports, and $1.4 billion in vehicle imports from China.
Among vehicles likely to be hit with tariffs is General Motors Co’s Buick Envision sport-utility vehicle, which is assembled in China and sold in the United States. Volvo, owned by China’s Geely Motors, also exports Chinese-built vehicles to the United States.
China’s commerce ministry said it has initiated a World Trade Organization dispute procedure against the US 301 tariffs investigation on Wednesday, amid an escalating trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies. China earlier on Wednesday said it would impose new tariffs on 106 US products ranging from autos, soybean and whisky worth $50 billion of 2017 imports, countering a US announcement of tariffs on an estimated $50 billion worth of Chinese goods. REUTERS
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