China to hit US soybeans, cars, planes as trade war looms
China unveiled plans Wednesday to hit major US exports worth $50 billion such as soybeans, cars and small airplanes with retaliatory tariffs in an escalating trade duel between the world’s two top economies.
The move came hours after US President Donald Trump’s administration published its own $50 billion list of Chinese products facing US tariffs over Beijing’s alleged theft of intellectual property and technology, AFP reported.
The two powers have engaged in heated rhetoric and tit-for-tat actions that have raised the prospects of a trade war and rattled global markets.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China remains open to talks, “but the opportunity for consultation and negotiation has been missed by the US side time and again”.
“The US side should not try to threaten China in a condescending way. We should have give and take, instead of threatening the others senselessly,” Geng told reporters before Beijing announced the tariff plan.
“Any attempt to bring China to its knees through threats and intimidation will never succeed. It will not succeed this time either.”
The Chinese commerce ministry unveiled a list of 106 products, including chemical products and frozen beef, that will get hit by duties of 25 percent, though it did not announce a date for their implementation.
A third of US soybean exports go to China, totaling $14 billion last year, and the product comes from rural states that voted for Trump in the 2016 election.
The tariffs also target airplanes that weigh no more than 45,000 kilos – smaller than the major commercial jets made by Boeing.
The targeted airplanes would include private jets like the Gulfstream V and others that have been snapped up by China’s elite.
Beijing said it will also resort to the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement mechanism.
Taken together the $100 billion worth of targeted goods represent about 17 percent of the $580 billion in two-way trade last year.
On Monday, Beijing imposed duties on about $3 billion in US exports such as pork, wine and fruit, in response to US tariffs on steel and aluminum.
The US list, which was published on Tuesday, includes electronics, aircraft parts, satellites, medicine, machinery and other goods – and it has yet to be finalized.
“The proposed list of products is based on extensive interagency economic analysis and would target products that benefit from China’s industrial plans while minimizing the impact on the US economy,” the office of US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement.
It identifies roughly 1,300 goods that could face duties of 25 percent but remains subject to a review process that will last through at least May before it can take effect.
Over the last month, Trump has rattled markets and disregarded warnings from industry groups and members of his own Republican party in announcing punishing new tariffs on exports from major trading partners.