US THREATENS $200B MORE TARIFFS ON CHINA

WASHINGTON— The trade war between the United States and China has escalated with Washington threatening fresh tariffs on another $200 billion in Chinese goods and Beijing vowing to retaliate.

Latest actions

The latest moves in the ballooning trade conflict between the world’s top two economies came just days after tit-for-tat duties on $34 billion in goods came into effect.

US Trade Rep. Robert Lighthizer late Tuesday accused China of retaliating to its tariffs “without any international legal basis or justification.”

US President Donald Trump has therefore ordered the trade department to “begin the process of imposing tariffs of 10 percent on an additional $200 billion of Chinese imports,” Lighthizer said.

August hearing

Officials will hold hearings in late August on the list of targeted products and an administration official said it would take about two months to finalize.

The eventual goal is to impose tariffs on 40 percent of Chinese imports, the same proportion of US goods hit by Beijing’s retaliation, an official told reporters.

If the measures are imposed, it would mean new taxes on thousands of products from fish to chemicals, metals and tires.

Chinese response

Beijing said it would tack on the case to its suit against Washington’s “unilateralist” behavior at the World Trade Organization.—