Beijing announced tariffs on Tuesday on a number of U.S. imports, including fuels, and imposed export restrictions on a number of raw materials in response to the Trump administration’s 10% tariffs on Chinese imports entering the US,
China’s Ministry of Finance announced the new tariffs, which include a 10% duty on crude oil, agricultural equipment, large-displacement automobiles, and pickup trucks, and a 15% tax on some forms of coal and liquefied natural gas. The actions become operative on February 10.
The Ministry of Commerce also unveiled a list of additional export restrictions that include elements connected to tellurium, which can be used to create solar cells, and tungsten, which is generally utilized in industrial and defense applications.
The ministry also said it was adding two American firms — biotech company Illumina and fashion retailer PVH Group, owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger — to its unreliable entities list, saying they “violated normal market trading principles.”
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation announced in a separate statement that it was opening an investigation against Google for alleged anti-monopoly violations. The business operates very little in China, where its browser is unavailable.
The flurry of announcements coincides with the implementation of a broad-based 10% tax on Chinese imports to the US that the White House announced on Saturday.
China’s commerce ministry acknowledged in a statement on Tuesday that it has submitted the Trump administration’s tariff policies to the WTO dispute resolution process.
According to the ministry, “the US practice disturbs the stability of the global industrial chain and supply chain, seriously undermines the rules-based multilateral trading system, and undermines the foundation of economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States.”
