China has responded to President Trump’s tariffs by implementing retaliatory tariffs of their own against U.S. products—including a 15 percent tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas products.
The Associated Press says China will also impose a ten percent tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery, and large-engine cars imported from the U.S. Both the 15 and ten percent tariffs will go into effect on Monday.
“The unilateral tariff increase by the U.S. seriously violates the rules of the World Trade Organization,” the Chinese State Council Tariff Commission said in a statement. ‘It is not only unhelpful in solving its own problems but also damages normal economic and trade cooperation between the U.S. and China.”
Some experts believe the limited reply of a 10 percent duty to President Trump’s tariffs is an attempt by China’s policymakers to engage the U.S. President in talks to avert an outright trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
On Saturday, President Trump signed an Executive Order that not only impose an additional ten percent tariff on Chinese imports, but a 25-percent tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada. But, Trump announced on Monday that he was hitting the pause button for 30 days on the tariffs against Mexico and Canada after he had spoken with Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Both told Trump that they would commit to sending troops to their respective borders and increase their funding to stop the spread of fentanyl and other drugs from entering the U.S.
Source: NAFB News Service