U.S., China raise tariffs in new round of trade dispute
The United States BEIJING — and China went ahead with tariff hikes on billions ofdol- lars of each other’s automo- biles, factory machinery and othergoods Thursday in an escalation of a battle over Beijing’s technology policy that companies worry will chill global economic growth.
The increases came as envoys met in Washington for their first high-level talks in two months. They gave no sign of progress toward a settlement of U.S. complaints that Beijing steals technology and its indus- try development plans violate Chinese free-trade commitments.
The 25 percent duties, previously announced, apply to $16 billion of goods from each side including automo- biles and metal scrap from the United States and Chi- nese-made factory machinery and electronic compo- nents.
In the first round of tariff hikes, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 25 percent duties on $34 billion of Chinese imports on July 6. Beijing responded with simi- lar penalties on the same amount of American goods.
The Chinese government criticized Thursday’s U.S. increase as a violation of World Trade Organization rules and said it would file a legal challenge.
A foreign ministry spokes- man, Lu Kang, declined to give details of the Washing- ton talks.
“We hope the U.S. side will get along with us to strive for a good result from the talks with a reasonable and practical attitude,” Lu said.
Beijing has rejected U.S. demands to scale back plans for state-led technology development that its trading partners say violate its market-opening commitments. American officials worry they might erode the United States’ industrial leadership.
With no settlement in sight, economists warn the conflict could spread and knock up to 0.5 percentage points off global economic growth through 2020.
The pressure on Chinese export industries that support millions of jobs adds to challenges for Communist leaders who are trying to shore up slowing economic growth.
Factory output, consumer spending and other indicators were weaker than expected in July. Beijing has responded by pumping money into financial markets and announcing plans for higher spending on public works construction.
Chi n ese leaders have promised to help struggling exporters and ordered banks to lend more freely to them. But they have avoided fullscale economic stimulus that would set back efforts to rein in debt and nurture self-sustaining growth supported by consumer spending.
Forecasters say the impact of U.S. tariffs on China’s economy is small and manageable for now. Credit Suisse said this month that if Trump goes ahead with all threatened U.S. increases, the “worst case” outlook would cut China’s economic growth by 0.2 percentage points this year and 1.3 percent in 2019.
The International Monetary Fund’s growth forecast for China this year is 6.5 percent, down from last year’s 6.8 percent and more than double the U.S. forecast of 2.9 percent.