China said Tuesday it would slap tariffs on imports of US energy, vehicles and equipment, firing a return salvo in an escalating trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.
US President Donald Trump on Saturday announced sweeping measures against major trade partners including Canada and Mexico, with goods from China facing an additional 10 percent tariff on top of the duties they already endure.
Just minutes after those tariffs came into effect, Beijing said it would impose levies of 15 percent on imports of coal and liquefied natural gas from the United States.
On Tuesday it unveiled 10 percent tariffs on imports of crude oil, agricultural machinery, big-engined vehicles, and pickup trucks.
The new measures were in response to the “unilateral tariff hike” by Washington over the weekend, Beijing said.
That US move, China said, “seriously violates World Trade Organization rules, does nothing to resolve its own problems, and disrupts normal economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States”.
With that in mind, Beijing said it would file a complaint with the WTO over the “malicious” levies.
Alongside its tariffs, China announced a probe into US tech giant Google as well as adding US fashion group PVH Corp. — which owns Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein — and biotech giant Illumina to a list of “unreliable entities”.
Beijing also unveiled fresh export controls on rare metals and chemicals including tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, and molybdenum, used in a range of industrial appliances.
( Source: AFP)