With the United States set to slap a new 10 percent tariff on billions of dollars in Chinese goods coming into the U.S. on September 1, the Chinese government officially retaliated on Friday, announcing its own new tariffs on American products, and denouncing President Donald Trump's get-tough actions on trade.
"The US measures have led to the continuous escalation of Sino-US economic and trade frictions, which have greatly harmed the interests of China, the United States and other countries," the Chinese Minstry of Finance announced.
The documents released by China today apply to over 5,000 categories of items imported from the United States, covering everything from diapers to pipes and cigarette holders, to a range of agricultural products like barley, wheat, oats, corn, sorghum, soybeans, peanuts, cotton, covering about $75 billion in U.S. goods.
Much like a 122 page list of targeted items put out by the United States earlier this month, China issued over 100 pages of products which would face new import duties.
Credit: undefined
Credit: undefined
The reaction from Congress and business groups was negative.
"This trade war is not holding China accountable," said Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA). "It's hurting farmers and small business owners all over the country who are just trying to earn a living."
“The fact of the matter is that nobody wins a trade war, and the continued tit-for-tat escalation between the U.S. and China is putting significant strain on the U.S. economy, raising costs, undermining investment, and roiling markets,” the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in a statement.
As for President Trump, he has not wavered in his public statements about taking on china, tariff for tariff, as one of his Friday tweets caused some shock on the markets.
“Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China,” the President wrote.
“Here’s the thing: Somebody had to take on what China was doing to the United States economically,” the President told reporters this week.
“We’re winning big. I took it on. And it should have been done by previous Presidents,” he added.
And on Twitter Friday morning, the President expressed no concerns about the Chinese response.
Asked by reporters earlier this week about the trade war with China, Mr. Trump said he was the only President who had decided to actually confront Beijing.
“I am the chosen one,” the President said, as he looked skyward.
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