Summary: The Chinese are enacting retaliatory tariffs against the United States.
Effective Monday, Beijing will impose retaliatory tariffs on the US in response to President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on steel and aluminum from China. According to Politico, China’s new tariffs will affect more than $3 billion in US exports.
In a statement released Sunday, the Chinese government said that the Chinese was issuing the tariffs on 128 American products such as American fruit, nuts, wine, and pork.
About one week ago, the Chinese Commerce announced it was considering placing tariffs on the US after Trump had imposed tariffs on China. According to Politico, “The move is expected to lead to escalating tensions between the two large trading nations, leading many to worry that American farmers will be casualties in a tit-for-tat trade war.”
The US is China’s top exporter of apples, cherries, walnuts, and almonds; and it is one of the country’s top shippers of pork. Last year, the US exported over $1 billion of pork products to China alone.
Late last month, the US imposed tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum, and Beijing said on Sunday that it would enact retaliatory tariffs “in order to safeguard China’s interests and balance the losses.” The US responded to China’s statement, saying that it had enacted its tariffs because of the country’s unfair trade practices.
“China’s subsidisation and continued overcapacity is the root cause of the steel crises,” spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said to the BBC. “Instead of targeting fairly traded US exports, China needs to stop its unfair trading practices which are harming US national security and distorting global markets.”
Politico stated that we should expect more tariffs between the US-China.
“More tariffs between the two countries are possible in the near future. In March, Trump unveiled another set of tariffs, which specifically target some $60 billion in Chinese exports in response to what the White House has described as policies that force American tech companies to cough up intellectual property in order to access the Chinese market,” Politico said.
The economic war between US and China caused the US stock market to drop on Monday, according to the BBC who also spoke to the National Pork Producer Council.
“Any restriction on export markets is not a good development for US pork producers,” Jim Monroe, a spokesman for the National Pork Producers Council, said.
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