China on Monday imposed tariffs on 128 US imports worth $3 billion, retaliating for US duties on steel and aluminum that Beijing said “seriously infringed” Chinese interests.
China’s move, which the Xinhua news agency said was decided by the custom tariffs commission of the State Council, followed weeks of rhetoric that has raised fears of a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.
The Trump administration had said its duties were aimed at steel and aluminum imports that it deemed a threat to US national security, but China’s Commerce Ministry on Monday called that reasoning an “abuse” of World Trade Organization (WTO) guidelines.
The US measures “are directed only at a few countries, seriously violating the principle of non-discrimination as a cornerstone of the multilateral trading system, which seriously infringed the interests of the Chinese side,” said a statement on the Commerce Ministry website.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly railed against China’s massive trade surplus with the United States and promised during the US election campaign to take steps to slash the US deficit.
Beijing had warned last month that it was considering the tariffs of 15 percent and 25 percent on a range of products that also include wine, nuts and aluminum scrap. They came into force on Monday, Xinhua said, citing a government statement.
The levies are in response to tariffs of 10 percent on aluminum and 25 percent on steel that have also angered US allies.
“We hope that the United States can withdraw measures that violate WTO rules as soon as possible to put trade in the relevant products between China and the US back on a normal track,” the Commerce Ministry statement said.
“Cooperation between China and the United States, the world’s two largest economies, is the only correct choice.”
Trump has temporarily suspended the tariffs for the European Union as well as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and South Korea.
But the White House has unveiled plans to impose new tariffs on some $60 billion of Chinese imports over the “theft” of intellectual property.
China has called on the United States to stop its “economic intimidation” and had warned that it was ready to hit back.
Source: AFP
