China accuses US of ‘trade bullying’ as fresh tariffs hit home

Trump has warned that if Beijing takes retaliatory measures, his administration will “immediately pursue” imposing tariffs on another $267 billion of Chinese products, which would extend duties to the value of China’s entire annual exports to the U.S.

“These practices plainly constitute a grave threat to the long-term health and prosperity of the United States economy”, he said in announcing the tariffs last week.

As the trade war has raged on and tariffs have been slapped on more and more U.S. imports from China, U.S. consumer goods have been feeling more of the pain. Barrick Gold Corp.’s stock rose more than 2 percent in premarket trading on the news it is buying Randgold, whose shares jumped more than 6 percent, to create the world’s biggest gold miner.

The United States and China imposed fresh tariffs on each other’s goods Monday as the world’s two largest economies showed no sign of backing down from a bitter trade dispute that kept rattling financial markets. In August, the USA imposed taxes on $16 billion worth of China’s exported produce, prompting China to respond with a similar measure.

USA regulators went ahead with a planned 10 percent tax on a $200 billion list of 5,745 Chinese imports including bicycles and furniture.

Officials in Beijing said they planned to step up support for harmed industries and companies as they seek to offset the trade war’s effects.

In response to the first two rounds of USA tariffs, China imposed duties on $50bn of United States products, targeting key parts of the president’s political base, such as farmers.

Analysts widely expect the direct impact of the US tariffs on China’s economic growth to be limited.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Mike Pompeo last week bragged the trade war will end when the U.S. wins. The tariffs were to come into force on Monday and then rise to 25% on January 1, the White House said.

Some people in China believe Trump may not want a deal on trade at all, as he wants to play the China card to energise and solidify his electoral base in the run-up to the United States midterm elections in November and his presidential re-election campaign in 2020.

“But there should be equality and mutual respect in order to make the negotiations effective”, Wang said. Another $16 billion of goods were included in August and China retaliated in kind to both moves.

It also says that if prices of cheap Chinese imports, which have been supporting the USA economy, rise as a result of the sanctions, it will hurt the interest of U.S. consumers.

China summoned the United States ambassador in Beijing and postponed military talks in protest against a USA decision to sanction a Chinese military agency and its director for buying Russian fighter jets and a missile system.

What comes in here now is going to be more expensive because government is putting a tariff on it.

In announcing the rates for the retaliatory duties last week, the government in Beijing said the tariffs would be effective as of 12:01 p.m. local time on September 24.