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China took a retaliatory measures against the United States on Friday, Aug. 23, by announcing a new round of tariffs on $75 billion of U.S. goods. In a response, President Donald Trump talked tough on Beijing.
China’s Finance Ministry said in a statement that tariffs of 10 percent and 5 percent will take effect on two batches of U.S. products on Sept. 1 and Dec. 15, matching the Trump administration’s planned tax hikes, The Associated Press reported.
In a separate statement, the ministry said it would resume import tariffs on U.S.-made cars and auto parts. The tariffs would be 25% and 5%, respectively, taking effect from Dec. 15.
The new tariffs come as countermeasures after the U.S. trade representative announced earlier this month that the United States is preparing to impose “an additional tariff of 10 percent on $300 billion of Chinese imports” from Sept. 1 as announced by President Donald Trump in Aug. 1.
The office noted that some Chinese products will be removed from the new tariff list, and some others will be delayed from duties till Dec. 15.
The uneven figures between two sides reflect their lopsided trade balance. China is running out of U.S. products to slap tariff on. However, Beijing recently devalued its currency as another retaliatory measure.
Before this new round of tariffs, the Trump administration had already placed 25% tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese products, while China imposed duties on $110 billion of U.S. goods.
The ongoing trade war is having an adverse impact on China. The latest data from its statistics bureau shows industrial production in China—an important indicator for the country’s economy—grew 4.8% on-year in July, the slowest in 17 years.
In a series of tweets on Friday, Aug. 23, President Trump repeated that the United States has lost trillions of dollars with China over many years, including hundreds of billions of dollars a year for intellectual property stealth. He promised, “I won’t let that happen!”
The president stressed for the first time that “we (the United States) don’t need China and, frankly, would be far better off without them.”
….better off without them. The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP. Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019
President Trump promised he would respond to China’s new tariffs.
The president blamed China and other countries for bringing Fentanyl to the United States, killing 100,000 Americans a year, saying he is “ordering all carriers, including Fed Ex, Amazon, UPS and the Post Office, to SEARCH FOR & REFUSE, all deliveries of Fentanyl from China, (or anywhere else!)”
….all deliveries of Fentanyl from China (or anywhere else!). Fentanyl kills 100,000 Americans a year. President Xi said this would stop – it didn’t. Our Economy, because of our gains in the last 2 1/2 years, is MUCH larger than that of China. We will keep it that way!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019
During a meeting with the president of Romania in the Oval Office on Aug. 20, President Trump revealed that he life would be a lot easier if he did not take on China. He chose to take on Beijing because the country has been ripping off the United States for 25 years.
