New US tariffs anger China, SKorea

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has approved steep tariffs on imports of solar panels and washing machines to protect US producers, triggering an outcry in China and South Korea and even protests at home.

Seoul said Tuesday it planned to take the issue to the World Trade Organization while Beijing

“Together with other WTO members, China will resolutely defend its legitimate interests,” its commerce ministry warned, without indicating any specific

At home in the US, the move was decried by the solar industry, which said the tariffs would create a “crisis” and cost thousands of US jobs and billions in investment without helping domestic suppli

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the tariffs were imposed after an “exhaustive” review by USTR and the independent US International Trade Commission, which determined that US producers

The administration imposed tar large washing machines over three

South Korea, which has signed a free trade deal with the US and is a crucial ally in Washington’s confrontation with North Korea,

Its Trade Minister Kim HyunChong said the tariffs were “excessive” and may constitute a “viola

Samsung, South Korea’s biggest every consumer who wants to buy

“Millions of Americans love their LG washers,” said another South Korean company, LG Electronics,

“Consumers should be the ones

Friction with China

Last year Trump launched dozens of trade cases, taking what his commerce department called

Many have targeted China, the United States’ biggest trade part-

This file photo taken on January 6, 2016 shows an exhibitor demonstrating an Inverter Direct Drive washing machine at the LG exhibit during the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. US President Donald Trump has approved steep tariffs on imports of solar panels and washing machines to protect US producers, US trade officials announced on January 22, 2018. ner, which last year ran a record surplus with the US, inciting new

Targeting Chinese imports can

Imports of cheap Chinese panels helped triple US annual solar electricity generation between causing most US producers to stop production or declare bankruptcy,

The rising imports were spurred by China’s use of state incentives, subsidies and tariffs, and manufac- turers have evaded compensatory US tariffs by repeatedly shifting production to new countries,

Chinese- made washing machine imports led to a “substantial” decline in market share for

The director of the Chinese commerce ministry’s trade and remedy investigation bureau said in a statement the US tariffs “not only aroused the concern of many trading partners but were also strongly opposed by many local governments and downstream

‘Disappointment’ among solar industry

The US investigation into solar imports was launched following complaints from US companies Suniva, a bankrupt Chineseowned firm, and SolarWorld, owned by a German concern that

The Solar Energy Industries - bers expressed “disappointment”

The new tariffs will cause the jobs and the cancellation or delay of billions of dollars in solar investment, the group

The tariffs will not help meet US demand but “will create a crisis in a part of our economy that has been thriving, which will ultimately cost tens of thousands of hard-working, blue-collar Americans their jobs,” said SEIA presi