In response to the customs duties ordered by US President Donald Trump on imports from China. People’s Republic reacts with counter-tariffs and measures against US companies.
As the Ministry of Finance announced in Beijing, additional tariffs of 15 percent are to be charged on coal and liquefied natural gas from the USA. An additional custom of ten percent should apply to oil, agricultural machines and certain other vehicles.
The tariffs should come into force on February 10th. In addition, Beijing announced a antitrust investigation against the US technology giants Google. The US biotechnology company Illumina and the clothing group PVH Corp, which belongs to the Calvin Klein brand, for example, put China on his list of unreliable entities.
This threatens companies and restrictions. Peking also announced additional export restrictions on some so-called critical metals, which are important for the US high-tech industry, for example.
Beijing demonstrates militaryfulness
The United States undermines “the basis of the economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States and disrupt the stability of the global industrial and supply chains”, as the Beijing Ministry of Commerce announced.
Observer: Inside, the Chinese counter reaction saw an initially moderate answer, with the fortificance demonstrated, but at the same time signaled willingness to negotiate. In any case, China imports only small amounts of crude oil and coal from the USA. Google is hardly active in the country because of the Internet course in China.
The additional tariffs ordered by Trump, on the other hand, apply to all goods that are introduced from China.
No break like with Canada and Mexico
Shortly before, the deadline for avert new US tariffs against China had expired on Tuesday. The White House had announced on Saturday that the tariffs of an additional ten percent of Chinese imports would be effective on February 4 at midnight Washington’s time (around 6 a.m. German time).
In contrast to Mexico and Canada, who met with US President Donald Trump shortly before the entry into force of tariffs to expose the introduction for 30 days, there was initially no such agreement with China.
Trump announces talks with Beijing
On Monday, however, Trump said that the Chinese side would “probably speak in the next 24 hours”. In advance, he had justified the customs plans against China, Mexico and Canada that these countries would not be enough against the production and export of illegal fentanyl and its forerunner chemicals.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce had announced “countermeasures” and a lawsuit at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in a first reaction to the announced US tariffs.
Chinese economy under pressure
The two largest economies threaten to head for a new trade war, such as in 2018, when Trump also triggered a conflict with the imposition of tariffs during his first term. At that time, a process started, in which China and the United States covered themselves with ever further tariffs for a good two years.
The higher US tariffs burden China’s export management because they make Chinese goods more expensive and therefore less competitive on the US market.