U.S. tariffs on $200bn in Chinese goods take effect

Anew round of tariffs between China and the United States came into effect yesterday in a further escalation of the ongoing trade row between the world’s two largest economies.

The U.S. tariffs will affect Chinese products including food seasonings, baseball gloves and parts for industrial machinery, while U.s.-made chemicals, clothes and car parts will be subject to the Chinese levies.

On September 17, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would impose 10 per cent tariffs on about $200bn worth of Chinese products, prompting retaliatory measures from Beijing.

In a statement the following day, the Chinese finance ministry said it “had no choice but to respond with its own tariffs,” which fall at five or 10 per cent and affect some 5,200 US products.

China also announced it was lodging a new complaint with the World Trade Organization in its tariff battle with the U.S. The two sides already traded tariffs on $50bn worth of goods from each country earlier this summer. On Thursday, in a first, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on a unit of China’s defence ministry for buying fighter jets and missiles from Russia.

Trump has warned tariffs would increase to 25 per cent by January 1 unless the U.S. and China reach a trade deal, which was expected to be reached at a meeting in Washington, DC, later this month.

But, China on Saturday scrapped its trade talks with the Trump administration and is unlikely to hold any meeting before the mid-term elections in the U.S. due in November.

Dan Wang, analyst with The Economist Intelligence Unit, told Al Jazeera from Beijing that the trade war was likely to escalate further.

“Over time more of the corporations are going to think about moving part of their supply chain or an entire factory out of China.