On Tuesday, February 4, Beijing announced a wide-ranging package of economic measures aimed at the United States in response to the introduction of 10% tariffs on Chinese imports by US President Donald Trump.
This is reported by CNN.
Thus, the new tariffs announced by the Chinese Ministry of Finance include a 15% tax on certain types of coal and liquefied natural gas and a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery, heavy-duty vehicles and pickup trucks. The measures come into effect on February 10.
In addition, the Ministry of Commerce and the Customs Administration of China announced new export control measures that take effect immediately on more than two dozen types of metal products and related technologies. Among them are tungsten, an important mineral that is commonly used for industrial and defense purposes, as well as tellurium, which can be used to produce solar cells.
The ministry also said it was adding two US firms - biotech company Illumina and PVH Group, owner of the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands - to a list of untrustworthy entities, saying they had “violated normal market trading principles”.
In a separate statement, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation said it was launching an investigation into Google for suspected antitrust violations. The company, whose search engine is not available in China, has minimal operations in the country.
The announcements came after the White House announced on Saturday that it would impose a 10% tariff on Chinese imports to the United States.
“The measures are quite modest, at least compared to the US moves, and have clearly been calibrated to try to send a message to the US (and domestic audiences) without causing too much harm,” Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of the China economics department at financial analytical company Capital Economics, assessed China's actions.
He added that China's tariffs target a maximum of USD 20 billion of the country's annual imports from the United States, about 12% of the total, which is "far from as much" as the USD 450 billion in Chinese goods that the United States has imposed tariffs on.
China criticized the U.S. tariffs in a statement on Sunday and vowed to "resolutely defend its rights" by filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) and taking "appropriate countermeasures."
In a statement on Tuesday, China's Ministry of Commerce confirmed that it had referred the Trump administration's tariff measures to the WTO's dispute settlement mechanism.
"The U.S. practice seriously undermines the rules-based multilateral trading system, undermines the foundation of economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States, and disrupts the stability of the global industrial and supply chains," the ministry said.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the United States will postpone the introduction of import duties on Canadian goods for at least 30 days. At the same time, Canada will strengthen border security and anti-drug measures.
On February 1, Donald Trump said that he does not rule out signing orders to impose tariffs on the European Union, Canada, Mexico and China.
EU leaders have made it clear that the bloc will be ready to respond if US President Donald Trump carries out his threats to impose tariffs on European goods.
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