China has imposed retaliatory tariffs on the US, hitting about $14bn worth of goods and dashing hopes that a trade war between the world’s two largest economies could be avoided.
Beijing announced the tariffs last week in response to a US decision to impose an additional 10 per cent levy on Chinese products, which US President Donald
Trump called an “opening salvo” in a renewed trade offensive against China.
Compared with the blanket US tariffs, China’s measures — which target US exports of liquefied natural gas, coal, crude oil and farm equipment as well as some automotive goods with levies of 10 per cent to 15 per cent — were seen as creating space for negotiations to avert a wide trade conflict.
But by the Sunday deadline there was no news of a deal and China’s embassy in Washington said the tariffs came into effect at 12.01am Beijing time on Monday (11.01am on Sunday in Washington DC).
Beijing last week also announced an antitrust probe into Google, whose search engine is blocked in China, and Illumina, a US biotechnology company. And it blacklisted the holding company of US clothing brands Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger.
China underlined its control of the rare earths supply chain by restricting exports to the US of five critical metals used in defence-related industries, solar panels, electric vehicle batteries and other green energy products. China produces about 60 per cent of the world’s rare earths and accounts for 90 per cent of processing in the industry.
