China Raises Tariffs On US Goods To 125% As Trade War Worsens

On Friday, China announced an increase in tariffs on US products to 125 per cent from 84 per cent, shortly after President Xi Jinping encouraged the European Union to unite with Beijing against “unilateral bullying,” in reference to the significant tariffs set by President Donald Trump.

The new tax, set to take effect on Saturday, was revealed following Trump’s announcement this week of raising tariffs on China to 145 percent, intensifying the current trade conflict between the two largest economies globally.

The Chinese finance ministry said further action by the US will be ignored because “at the current tariff level, there is no possibility of market acceptance for US goods exported to China”.”The United States’ imposition of round upon round of abnormally high tariffs on China has become a numbers game with no practical significance in economics,” it said.

“If the US continues to play the tariff numbers game, China will ignore it,” a spokesperson said.  Washington’s levies “(caused) the current world economy, global markets and multilateral trading systems to suffer serious shocks and severe turbulence”, a spokesperson for Beijing’s Commerce Ministry said.

On Wednesday, the US President declared a 90-day suspension of his extensive tariffs on all nations, except China. He stated he was increasing tariffs on imports from China, citing a “disregard” from Beijing.

An earlier set of US tariffs took effect on Wednesday, increasing duties on Chinese imports to 104 percent. China subsequently reacted to the 104 percent tariffs, announcing it would increase its duties on imports from the US from 34 percent to 84 percent, starting Thursday.

On Friday, Xi Jinping met with his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sanchez, in Beijing and emphasized that there are “no victors” in tariff conflicts. The state-controlled news outlet Xinhua reported that the Chinese President cautioned the European Union about the necessity of collaborating with China to weather the escalating trade conflict with Washington.

“China and Europe should fulfil their international responsibilities… and jointly resist unilateral bullying practices,” he said, asserting this would not only “safeguard legitimate rights and interests… but also safeguard international fairness and justice.”

The escalation in the US-China trade war comes days after TRump called his Chinese counterpart a “smart man”.

“I think President Xi is a man who knows exactly what needs to be done. He’s a very smart man. He loves his country. I know that for a fact. I know him very well,” he told reporters at the White House this week.

“And I think he’s going to want to make a deal. I think that’s going to happen. We’ll get a phone call at some point, and everything will be ready,” he added.

“It is going to be a great thing for us, the world and for humanity,” Trump said.