After the Trump administration levies tariffs on Chinese solar panels, China investigates U. S. sorghum imports.
Ever since the election of U. S. President Donald Trump, the threat of an uptick in U. S.-China trade tensions have seemed unavoidable. Trump, after all, based his campaign on a promise to return economic prosperity to the U. S. Rust Belt, where manufacturing jobs have dried up, or, in Trumpian parlance, been “stolen” by China. A year into Trump’s presidency, however, we hadn’t seen much action on that front, with Trump instead taking a cordial stance in talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
That changed on January 22, when the Trump administration announced that it would levy tariffs on imported solar panels and washing machines, arguing that “increased foreign imports of washers and solar cells and modules are a substantial cause of serious injury to domestic manufacturers.” While the tariffs apply to products imported from around the world, the press release from the Office of the U. S. Trade Representative singled out China’s trade practices as a major concern.
In response, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) called the move “an abuse of trade remedy measures.”
“China hopes the U. S. will use the trade restrictions with restraint, abide by the multilateral trade rules and play a positive role in promoting world economic development,” said Wang Hejun, head of MOFCOM’s Trade Remedy and Investigation Bureau in a statement. “With regard to the erroneous practice of the U. S., China will, together with other WTO members, resolutely defend its legitimate interests.
