China has announced it will impose retaliatory 25% tariffs on $16bn of US goods, including wood waste, paper and paper waste and scrap metal.
Beijing’s commerce ministry says it has been forced to retaliate to America’s “very unreasonable” levies on $16bn of Chinese exports.
Overnight, Washington said it would impose a 25% tariff on $16bn of Chinese imports, taking the total amount being targeted to $50bn.
The new levy will come into force on August 23rd, and will apply to 279 product types. It mostly affects industrial products, such as machinery, chemicals and semiconductors. Motorcycles and railway cars also feature.
Announcing the move, the US trade representative declared that America was penalising China for stealing its intellectual property, saying: “China directs and unfairly facilitates the systematic investment in, and acquisition of, U.S. companies and assets to generate large-scale technology transfer”.
In retaliation, China’s measures will kick-in on August 23, the same day as America’s latest levies, as it sticks to its policy of respond “in kind to Donald Trump’s trade moves”, according to reports by The Guardian.
It also reports American officials are already working on plans for tariffs on another $200bn of Chinese products in September.