The Trump administration announces additional tariffs on Chinese products and China vows to retaliate “as always.”
The “biggest trade war ever in economic history” between China and the United States officially started on July 6. Within four days, the trade war had escalated: a second round of tariffs is already on the horizon.
On July 10, U. S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced in a statement that U. S. President Donald Trump has “ordered USTR to begin the process of imposing tariffs of 10 percent on an additional $200 billion of Chinese imports.” The move came just four days after the two countries imposed tit-for-tat tariffs of $34 billion on each other’s products.
Trump had threatened earlier that he would impose additional tariffs if Beijing retaliated with countermeasures.
In his statement, Lighthizer claimed that the United States has specially targeted those Chinese products that “benefit from China’s industrial policy and forced technology transfer practices,” and China’s retaliation — from Washington’s perspective — was “without any international legal basis or justification.” China, on the other hand, maintained that the country was “forced to strike back to safeguard core national interests and the interests of its people.”
“For over a year, the Trump Administration has patiently urged China to stop its unfair practices, open its market, and engage in true market competition.
