China's Commerce Ministry on Thursday expressed “firm” opposition to new tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump, which amount to 34 percent on imports from China. Beijing called for the decision to be withdrawn “immediately”, threatening to retaliate to protect its interests.
The Ministry of Commerce warned that raising tariffs would not solve the United States' problems, but would only harm both US interests and global economic development and the stability of supply chains. Beijing is calling on Washington to “resolve disputes through equal dialogue with trading partners.” According to the Ministry of Commerce, “there are no winners in a trade war, and protectionism has no future.”
Donald Trump announced Wednesday that an additional 34% tariff will be imposed on imports from China. Together with the 20% tariffs implemented this year, this means that goods from China will face tariffs of 54% as of April 5. During the election campaign, Trump announced tariffs of 60%.
“The so-called 'reciprocal tariffs', which are based on subjective and one-sided assessments of the US side, are inconsistent with the rules of international trade, seriously undermine the legitimate rights and interests of the parties concerned, and are a typical practice of unilateral intimidation,” the Ministry of Commerce said.
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The Trump administration has chosen a surprisingly simple method to calculate tariffs. Instead of adjusting them to actual trade barriers, as it had announced, it has based the formula on the trade balance. Put simply, tariffs have been calculated based on the difference between U.S. exports and imports to a given country, not actual restrictions on trade.
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Beijing authorities did not specify what steps they would take in response to Washington's decision on Wednesday.
After the US president announced the first tariffs on Chinese imports in February, Beijing responded with, among other things, 15% tariffs on coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG), as well as 10% tariffs on imports of crude oil and agricultural machinery. The US doubling of the tariff was met with retaliation in the form of tariffs of 10 to 15% on imports of US agri-food products.
According to some experts, increasing tariffs on imports from China may encourage the authorities in Beijing to more strongly diversify trade with alternative markets from Europe to Southeast Asia and Africa.
From Beijing Krzysztof Pawliszak (PAP)
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