The US president has said he plans tariffs on an extra $200bn of imports from China
What is Trump’s latest tariff threat towards China?
Raising the stakes in the escalating trade standoff between the US and China overnight, Donald Trump has asked US trade officials to draft plans for additional tariffs on $200bn (£152bn) of Chinese imports. The president wants them set at a 10% rate, while indicating he would be prepared to impose tariffs on yet another $200bn of imports if China were to retaliate. Has the US already imposed tariffs on China?
The latest measures come on top of $50bn of tariffs approved by the White House, effective from 6 July, in retaliation to alleged intellectual property theft by China. These latest measures come as an escalation and could make it difficult for China to retaliate further, given the country only imported about $170bn of US goods and services last year.
The $50bn tariffs focus on industrial sectors designed to benefit from the “Made in China 2025” industrial strategy put forward by Beijing, and cover products ranging from aircraft to robots and cars. The list does not include products regularly bought by US consumers, such as mobile phones and TVs. Has China retaliated?
Responding to the first wave of proposed tariffs, China has drawn up a list of like-for-like tariffs on $50bn worth of US products such as soya beans, cars and aircraft – but it has yet to impose them.
