BEIJING: China on Tuesday swiftly retaliated against fresh US tariffs, announcing 10 percent-15 percent hikes to import levies covering a range of American agricultural and food products, moving the world’s top two economies a step closer toward an all-out trade war.
Beijing also placed twenty five US firms under export and investment restrictions on national security grounds, but refrained from punishing any household names, as it did when it retaliated against the Trump administration’s February 4 tariffs.
Ten of these 25 US firms were targeted by China for selling arms to Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory.
China’s latest retaliatory tariffs came as the extra 10 percent duty US President Donald Trump threatened China with last week entered into force at 0501 GMT on March 4, resulting in a cumulative 20 percent tariff in response to what the White House considers Chinese inaction over drug flows.
China has accused the US of fentanyl blackmail and it has some of the toughest anti-drug policies in the world.
Analysts have said Beijing still hoped to negotiate a truce with the Trump administration, but the tit-for-tat retaliatory tariffs threaten to escalate into an all-out trade war between the two economic giants.
The new US tariffs represent an additional hike to preexisting levies on thousands of Chinese goods.
Some of these products bore the brunt of sharply higher US tariffs under former president Joe Biden last year, including a doubling of duties on Chinese semiconductors to 50 percent and a quadrupling of tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to over 100 percent.
The 20 percent tariff will apply to several major US consumer electronics imports from China that were previously untouched, including smartphones, laptops, videogame consoles, smartwatches and speakers and Bluetooth devices.
China responded immediately after the deadline, announcing it will impose an additional 15 percent tariff on US chicken, wheat, corn and cotton and an extra 10 percent levy on US soybeans, sorghum, pork, beef, aquatic products, fruits and vegetables and dairy imports from March. 10, the finance ministry announced in a statement.
“The US’s unilateral tariffs measures seriously violate World Trade Organization rules and undermine the basis for economic and trade cooperation between China and the US,” China’s commerce ministry said in a separate statement.
“China will firmly safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” the statement added.
China hits back at US imports as Trump’s fresh tariffs take effect
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China hits back at US imports as Trump’s fresh tariffs take effect
- Beijing also places 25 US firms under export and investment restrictions on national security grounds
- China has accused the US of fentanyl blackmail and it has some of the toughest anti-drug policies in the world
North Korea says it respects Iran’s choice of new supreme leader: KCNA
- North Korea, a longstanding US adversary, has previously condemned the US-Israeli attack on Iran an “illegal act of aggression”
- Defying US President Donald Trump’s desire to have a say in who runs Iran, the Islamic republic on Sunday named Mojtaba Khamenei to replace his father, longtime ruler Ali Khamenei, who died in an Israeli airstrike on February 28
SEOUL: North Korea respects Iran’s choice of new supreme leader, state media reported Wednesday, as it accused the United States and Israel of destroying regional peace.
“With regard to the recent official announcement that Iran’s Assembly of Experts elected the new leader of the Islamic Revolution, we respect the rights and choice of the Iranian people to elect their supreme leader,” an unnamed Foreign Ministry spokesperson was quoted as saying by state news agency KCNA.
Defying US President Donald Trump’s desire to have a say in who runs Iran, the Islamic republic on Sunday named Mojtaba Khamenei to replace his father, longtime ruler Ali Khamenei, who died in an Israeli airstrike on February 28.
North Korea, a longstanding US adversary, has previously condemned the US-Israeli attack on Iran an “illegal act of aggression.”
On Wednesday, the North Korean spokesperson reiterated that position, saying that the United States and Israel “are destroying the regional peace and security foundations and escalating instability worldwide.”
“Any rhetorical threats and military action, which violate the political system and territorial integrity of the relevant country, interfere in its internal affairs and openly advocate the attempt to overthrow its social system, deserve worldwide criticism and rejection as they can never be tolerated,” the spokesperson added.
In recent months, the Trump administration has mounted a push to revive high-level talks with Pyongyang, eyeing a potential summit between the US president and the North’s Kim Jong Un this year.
After largely ignoring those overtures for months, Kim recently said that the two nations could “get along” if Washington accepted Pyongyang’s nuclear status.
