Beijing retaliates against U.S. goods in rising trade war

BEIJING — China fired back Saturday in a spiraling trade dispute with President Trump by raising import duties on a $34 billion list of American goods including soybeans, electric cars and whiskey.

The government said it was responding in “equal scale” to Trump’s tariff hikes on Chinese goods in a conflict over Beijing’s trade surplus and technology policy that companies worry could quickly escalate and chill global economic growth.

China “doesn’t want a trade war” but has to “fight back strongly,” said a Commerce Ministry statement. It said Beijing also is scrapping agreements to narrow its multibillion-dollar trade surplus with the United States by purchasing more American farm goods, natural gas and other products.

The United States and China have the world’s biggest trading relationship, but official ties are increasingly strained over complaints that Beijing’s industry development tactics violate its free-trade pledges and hurt American companies. Europe, Japan and other trading partners raise similar complaints, but Trump has been unusually direct about challenging Beijing and threatening to disrupt such a large volume of exports.

“In this trade war, it’s the U.S. who is playing the role of provocateur, while China plays defense,” said the Global Times, a newspaper published by the ruling Communist Party. “China is a powerful guardian and has enough ammunition to defend existing trade rules and fairness.”

Beijing will impose an additional 25 percent tariff starting July 6 on 545 products from the United States including soybeans, electric cars, orange juice, whiskey, lobsters, salmon and cigars, according to the Ministry of Finance. Most are food and other farm goods, hitting Trump’s rural supporters hardest.

Beijing appeared to be trying to minimize the impact on its own economy by picking U.S. products that can be replaced by imports from other suppliers such as Brazil or Australia.

Chinese regulators also are considering a tariff hike on an additional 114 products including medical equipment and energy products, the Finance Ministry said. It said a decision would be announced later. That mirrored the Trump administration’s announcement Friday of a tariff hike on $34 billion of Chinese goods, also due to take effect July 6, and plans to consider widening it to an additional $16 billion of other products.

Trump is pressing Beijing to narrow its trade surplus with the United States and roll back its plans for state-led development of Chinese global competitors in technology fields including electric cars, renewable energy, artificial intelligence and biotech.