China Pulls Plan to Impose Tariffs on U.S. Goods First

Beijing says it ‘won’t fire the first shot’ and prepares to assess levies Friday about the same time as the U.S.

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BEIJING—As U.S. and China gear up to slap each other with tariffs, an unexpected question is confounding the Chinese leadership: Who gets to strike first?

In response to the Trump administration’s plan to impose tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese products starting at 12:01 a.m. Friday in Washington, China pledged to retaliate with levies of the same value at the same time.  Because Beijing is 12 time zones ahead of the U.S. East Coast, China planned to put its tariffs into effect 12 hours before the U.S.’s hit, 12:01 a.m. in...