China bites back at Trump tariffs
US EXPORTS WILL SUFFER AS WELL
From pig heads to pistachios to whisky, China’s proposed list of targeted US products for higher border taxes could take a bite out of bilateral trade between the world’s top two economies.
After Washington imposed new tariffs on billions of Chinese imports yesterday, Beijing hit back.
China has not officially updated its list of items targeted but last month gave a detailed rundown that was not expected to change.
Big-ticket items from the US like soybeans, cars and sorghum were listed, but also some less headline-grabbing items that may find it more difficult to find a market beyond China’s 1.4 billion consumers, will be hit.
Pig heads and feet. Pork offal, the entrails and internal organs of hogs, that most American foodies shy away from, are big sellers in China, bringing in $251 million last year. “Feet of swine” and “head meat of swine” were the most enticing organs, US customs data shows. Demand has not flagged: barbecued feet sprinkled with sesame seeds is a delicacy.
Pistachio nuts. Chinese eat almost half of America’s pistachio export, research shows. Pistachios, along with $175 million worth of nuts, are set for new taxes.
“They’re a major buyer of just about every product that we have,” Ryan Jacobsen, CEO of the Fresno County Farm Bureau, told Sacramento radio.
Chicken feet. The sale of America’s unwanted chicken feet, or “paws”, to China is what many economists consider the holy grail of trade: US waste becomes a Chinese treat. Sales were looking ripe for growth before the tariffs.
“If you think about those type of products there’s a limited number of markets they can go to”, said Christopher Rogers, an analyst at trade data firm Panjiva.
“It’s going to hurt [the] American farmer’s earnings at the margin,” he said.
Salmon. America’s salmon exports to China are on a tear, with the most popular type exploding 176% last year to earn $171 million.
Whisky. Every month this year about five shipping containers of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whisky left port in Savannah, Georgia bound for China.
In Beijing and Shanghai, clubbers guzzle it with green and black tea, and occasionally with Coke.
Gotham East, a Shanghai-based spirits importer, said it had tried to rush a July shipment of Ragtime Rye whisky from New York through customs but wasn’t able to get it processed in time.
“Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong,” said Daniel Taytslin, Gotham’s co-founder. – AFP