China announces equal penalties to retaliate for US tariffs (Source: AP)
Hitting back at the United States, the Chinese government Friday announced that it will immediately impose penalties of “equal strength” on US products after Donald Trump decided to impose 25 per cent tariff on USD 50 billion of Chinese goods.
The Commerce Ministry stated it was also scrapping deals to buy more American farm goods and other exports as part of efforts to defuse a sprawling dispute over its trade surplus and technology policy.
A ministry statement gave no details, but a $50 billion list of possible targets announced in April included soybeans, light aircraft, orange juice, whiskey and beef. Much of the impact would fall on Trump’s rural supporters.
“The Chinese side doesn’t want to fight a trade war, but facing the shortsightedness of the U.S. side, China has to fight back strongly,” the statement said. “We will immediately introduce tax measures of equal scale and equal strength, and all economic and trade achievements reached by the two sides will be invalidated.”
Comments from the commerce ministry came within minutes of Trump’s announcement. The tariff would be imposed on Chinese goods related to intellectual property and technology along with a further levy in case China retaliates to the tariffs.
The imposition of tariffs on Chinese goods comes after the White House levied tariffs on metal imported from allies and adversaries around the globe.
Amidst the trade wars between US and China, Apple Inc Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook met Trump at the Oval Office in late April and criticised Trump’s approach to China.
“It’s true, undoubtedly true, that not everyone has been advantaged from that — in either country — and we’ve got to work on that,” Cook said. “But I felt that tariffs were not the right approach there, and I showed him some more analytical kinds of things to demonstrate why.”