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China has imposed vengeance tariffs in the US, its Embassy in Washington said Sunday – hitting goods worth about $ 14 billion and annoying hopes that a trade war can be avoided between the two largest economies in the world.
Beijing announced the tariffs last week in response to a US decision to impose an additional 10 percent tax on Chinese products, which US President Donald Trump called a “Salvo opening” in a renewable trade attack against China.
Compared to the US blanket tariffs, China’s measures – which aim at US exports of liquid natural gas, coal, raw oil and farm equipment, as well as some 10 percent to 15 percent tax goods – were seen as creating the space for negotiations to avoid a broad trade conflict.
But by Sunday’s deadline there was no news of an agreement, and China’s Embassy in Washington said the fees came into force at 12.01am Beijing Monday (11.01 Sunday in Washington DC).
Peking last week also announced an antitrust investigation into Google, whose search engine was blocked in China, and Illumina, a US biotechnology company. And she listed the black company of American clothing brands Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger.
China underlined its rare soil supply chain control by limiting exports to the US of five critical metals used in industry associated with protection, solar panels, electric vehicle batteries and other green energy products. China produces about 60 percent of the world’s rare land and accounts for 90 percent of industry processing.
Financial markets had initially hoped that Trump could follow the same book with China with Canada and Mexico-which he also announced fees, but then gave a month of repetition after the last-minute talks with their executives.
Trump had suggested he would talk to Chinese President Xi Jinping, but later said he was in “no hurry” to do so.
Experts have suggested that Beijing may have opposed Trump’s tactics, announcing fees only two days before they came into force, and before Chinese officials approached negotiations.
Trump has accused China, along with Mexico and Canada, of failing to curb the flow of deadly opioid fentanile in the SH.BA
He has also instructed the US trade representative to investigate Chinese compliance with the first phase of the trade agreement he sealed with China in 2020 during his first term in the White House, under which Beijing agreed to buy more US products.
The Ust will report the findings from the probe on April 1, in which the point may have another confrontation, analysts said.
Beijing has taken some measures to curb the flow of components for Fentanyl – known as precursor chemicals – from a summit to San Francisco in late 2023 that includes then US President Joe Biden and XI. But the Trump administration accuses Beijing of subsidizing Chinese companies that do predecessors.
The US trading relationship has formed the economies of both countries in recent decades.
But China for total US imports has fallen significantly since Trump introduced tariffs during his first term, causing some analysts to suggest that Beijing can be better set this time to endure the president’s measures.
Frederic Neumann, Asia’s chief of Asia at HSBC, said many Chinese companies would be able to hold a 10 percent fee of their goods, given that the country’s export prices had fallen much more than those of manufacturers rivals over the past two years.
“If there was only a 10 percent fee in China and we would leave it in it, I think a lot of investors would sleep calmer,” he added. “The big concern, of course, is that this is a prelud for potentially greater trading restrictions.”
