China on Tuesday hit back at the United States by imposing new trade tariffs on $60 billion worth of American goods, Reuters reported. However, Beijing will levy tariffs on more than 5,000 US products at 5% and 10%, instead of the previously proposed 5%, 10%, 20% and 25%, the country’s finance ministry said.
On Monday, the Donald Trump administration said it will begin to levy new tariffs of 10% on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, escalating the trade war between the two countries. The tariffs will come into force next Monday and then rise to 25% on January 1, the White House said.
China said the tariffs would be introduced from September 24 – the same date the US tariffs come into effect. Goods that will be taxed 10% include liquefied natural gas, mineral ores and coffee among other things. Chemical products and frozen vegetables are among the items that will be taxed 5%.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump said China has openly stated that they are actively trying to impact the US elections by attacking farmers and industrial workers. “What China does not understand is that these people are great patriots and fully understand that China has been taking advantage of the United States on Trade for many years,” Trump said on Twitter. “They also know that I am the one that knows how to stop it. There will be great and fast economic retaliation against China if our farmers, ranchers and/or industrial workers are targeted!”
In August, US and China imposed tariffs on $16 billion (Rs 1.1 lakh crore) worth of each other’s goods. This was the second round of tariffs, with goods worth $50 billion (Rs 3.5 lakh crore) subjected to tariffs on both sides since early July.
Trump has threatened to impose duties on more than $500 billion of Chinese goods exported annually to the US unless Beijing agrees to changes to its intellectual property practices, industrial subsidy programmes and tariff structure.
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