China Responds to Trump’s Trade Measures with Tariffs on U.S. Products

U.S. now faces potential great economic loss due to the protectionist measures of the Trump administration.

On Monday, the Chinese government has finally stroke back against President Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum with proposals of tariffs on up to 128 American products. This means that products and goods like pork and seamless steel pipes, among others, could be facing up to 25 percent of tariffs in the near future as a result of Trump’s trade measures.

Officials of China has stated that these tariffs are responses towards Trump’s tariffs and will be lifted if Trump takes away the tariffs on steel and aluminum and protective duties on Chinese-made goods and products.

The Ministry of Commerce of China said in an online statement that “China and the United States are the world’s two biggest economies, and cooperation is the only correct choice. Both sides should use dialogue and consultation to resolve their mutual concerns.” He also suggested that China will implement these tariffs in two steps, first imposing a 15 percent duty on 120 products and then adding a 25 percent tariff on eight other products. One of the eight products that will be hit most directly and severely is pork, which is core to the economy of farming regions in rural states, many of which voted for Trump during the 2016 presidential election.

These tariffs are not the end of this retaliation against Trump’s $60 billion tariffs on Chinese products. China is most likely to single out American exports further focusing on key, major products like soybeans, leading to repercussions on not only the producers of those goods but also larger companies including Apple who rely heavily on Chinese consumption power.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, these proposed tariffs are backed by public support and the state-run news outlets and media have also been covering the consequences and potential pushback against Trump administration and its protectionist trade visions. China, in its own government controlled media, is portrayed as a defender of open trade that is being wrongly targeted. This narrative has many flaws, of course, since China has high barriers against imports as well as foreign investments.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, has been visiting Beijing and according to her, all the Chinese officials she met during her time there “have not deviated from their talking points” about the tariffs of the Trump administration, and seems to show determination for their proposed tariffs and measures to go through and be implemented as a pushback.

The economic adviser of President Xi, Liu He, in a conversation with Steven Mnuchin, the American Treasury Secretary, said that the two countries, being two dominant economic powers, should “stay rational and work together to maintain the overall stability of their economic and trade relations.” This call for cooperation and compromise, however, does not seem to actually displayed amongst Chinese officials or reciprocated by the Trump Administration so far, who has not expressed willingness to allow exemptions to China and revoke the duties imposed on Chinese products.

Senator Warren further stated that “America is waking up to the loss of its technological advantage through China’s restrictions on access to its internal markets. That is now a plan where policy is beginning to change,” calling actions and responses of compromises and changes from the trump administration.

Featured Image via Wikimedia