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The White House said China is now facing up to a 245 percent tariff on imports to the U.S. “as a result of its retaliatory actions,” another escalation in a trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
The top potential tariff is higher than the previously stated 145 percent and was referenced in a fact sheet published by the White House late on Tuesday.
It accompanied an executive order signed by President Donald Trump that launched an investigation into the “national security risks posed by U.S. reliance on imported processed critical minerals and their derivative products.”
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian was asked about the 245 percent rate at a press briefing on Wednesday. “You can ask the U.S. side for the specific tax rate figures,” Lin said, China News Network reported.
“This tariff war was initiated by the United States, and China’s necessary countermeasures are to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests and international fairness and justice, which are completely reasonable and lawful.”
Trump imposed a 10 percent tariff on imports from all countries. He has temporarily paused additional “reciprocal” rates set individually for each country depending on the trade barriers faced by the U.S. to allow time for negotiations on new deals.
The exception to that pause is China, which is facing increasingly higher tariffs from the U.S. and has responded in kind, among other countermeasures.
This week, China imposed more export controls on rare earths, which include materials used in high-tech products, aerospace manufacturing, and the defense sector.
Despite the eye-watering tariffs and tough rhetoric, both the U.S. and China have said they are open to talks on trade, though further tit-for-tat retaliation is likely in this conflict between two great powers.
i am not sure what else the us thinks it can leverage to demand that high of a tarriff.
i’ve read trump say china needs us demand and consumption. i haven’t seen any facts and numbers to back that up.
It’s not insignificant by any stretch, but China was far more reliant on the US in the past. That’s why they have been building up the Belt and Road Initiative and BRICs, to build up alternative customers in case the US ever made a hard pivot. The PRC is more than willing to ride the gravy train of US money flowing in for as long as it can last, as they can spend that time building up alternative customers, but had this been the 90s this very well may have worked for Trump. Too little too late, though.
good point with the belt and road initiative as well as brics!
Thanks! That’s really been China’s whole strategy this time since Deng, rapidly improve the productive forces as quickly as possible and never be overly reliant on any ties, especially not the US, as the US is firmly anti-communist and will eventually make a hard break with the PRC (the US thought it would go the same way as the USSR to Russian Federation, which ended up being false).
The PRC isn’t doing BRICS and BRI for charity, nor for Imperialist control either. It’s doing it for customers, which it needs in the long run in order to not be isolated and reliant on the US.
Just a small note for clarity, but the US is not demanding a tariff from China. The US is imposing a tariff on goods from China, and US citizens are the ones that pay that. It’s not like Trump is asking China to fork over a bunch of money. He’s telling Americans that if they want Chinese goods they are going to have to pay even more. In theory, this would cause Americans to buy less of these goods because essentially they can’t afford them, and therefore China suffers, but money coming from the US is probably not going to affect China the way that increased tariffs will affect Americans.