China’s 84% retaliatory tariffs on US goods, announced on Wednesday, are due to come into effect on Thursday
Tariffs a ‘serious infringement’ on all countries, China’s commerce minister says
Hours before China’s reciprocal tariffs are to take effect, the country’s commerce minister has said the ‘reciprocal tariffs’ by the US are “a serious infringement of the legitimate interests of all countries”.
In a report in Chinese state media Xinhua, an official from the ministry was earlier quoted as saying that no one would win in a trade war.
I want to emphasize that there is no winner in a trade war, and that China does not want a trade war. But the Chinese government will by no means sit by when the legitimate rights and interests of its people are being hurt and deprived,” the official said on Wednesday.
In a stunning U-turn, Trump has reversed high tariffs on most nations – at least for 90 days. But the focus is now on China, the second-biggest provider of US imports, of which the pause does not apply.
Instead, Trump has raised tariffs on China to 125%, while China has announced new tariffs of 84% on all US imports, further escalating a high-stakes confrontation between the world’s two largest economies.
As our China correspondent Amy Hawkins writes in this insightful analysis, China is unlikely to blink first. One of the most helpful factors in Beijing’s favour is the fact that the US is far more dependent on Chinese imports than China is on the US.
For President Xi, there is only one politically viable response to Trump’s latest threat: Bring it on! Having already surprised domestic audiences with a forceful 34% reciprocal tariff, any appearance of backing down would be politically untenable,” says Diana Choyleva, founder and chief economist at Enodo Economics, a forecasting firm.”Opening summary
Hello, and thanks for following our live coverage of what has been a tumultuous week on global markets, triggered by US President Trump’s shock tariff policy.
The upheaval erased trillions of dollars from stock markets and led to an unsettling surge in US government bond yields that appeared to catch the president’s attention.
Trump has now announced a 90-day pause on the proposed reciprocal tariffs for most countries, except China, whose tariffs he raised to 125% on Wednesday.
