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China has imposed retaliation tariffs on the US, reaching around $ 14 billion in goods and hopes that a commercial war between the two largest economies in the world can be avoided.
Beijing announced tariffs last week in response to a decision of the United States to impose an additional 10 percent tax on Chinese products, which the president of the United States, Donald Trump, called an “opening save” in a renewed commercial offensive against China.
Compared to the rates of the American blanket, the measures of China, which are directed to US exports of liquefied natural gas, coal, crude oil and agricultural equipment, as well as some automotive products with levies from 10 % to 15 %, were seen as creating space for negotiations to avoid a wide commercial conflict.
But on the deadline of Sunday there was no news of an agreement and China’s embassy in Washington said the tariffs entered into force at 12.01 am
Beijing last week also announced an antimonopoly probe in Google, whose search engine is blocked in China, and Illumina, an American biotechnology company. And on the blacklist of the US clothing brands. UU. Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger.
China underlined its control of the rare earth supply chain by restricting exports to the US of five critical metals used in defense -related industries, solar panels, electric vehicle batteries and other green energy products. China produces about 60 percent of the world’s rare earth and represents 90 percent processing in the industry.
Initially, the financial markets expected Trump to follow the same book of plays with China as with Canada and Mexico, against which he also announced tariffs, but then gave a breath of a month after last minute conversations with their leaders.
Trump had suggested that he would talk to Chinese President Xi Jinping, but then said he was not in “no hurry to do so.
Experts have suggested that Beijing could have objected Trump’s tactics, announcing tariffs only two days before they came into force, and before approaching Chinese officials for negotiations.
Trump accused China, together with Mexico and Canada, not to stop the flow of mortal opioid fentanyl in the United States.
He has also instructed the United States commercial representative to investigate Chinese compliance with the first phase of the commercial agreement that sealed with China in 2020 during his first mandate in the White House, under which Beijing agreed to buy more American products.
The USTr must inform the findings of the probe on April 1, at which time there could be another confrontation, analysts said.
Beijing has taken some measures to stop the flow of ingredients for fentanyl, known as precursor chemicals, from a summit in San Francisco at the end of 2023 that involves the then president of the United States, Joe Biden and XI. But the Trump administration accuses Beijing to subsidize the Chinese companies that do the precursors.
The American-China commercial relationship has shaped the economies of both countries in recent decades.
But China’s participation in the total American imports has fallen significantly since Trump introduced tariffs during his first term, which leads some analysts to suggest that Beijing may be better at this time to support the president’s measures.
Frederic Neumann, chief economist of Asia of HSBC, said that many Chinese companies could take a 10 percent tariff on their goods, since the country’s export prices had decreased much more than those of rival producers in the last two years .
“If there were only a 10 percent rate on China and we leave it like that, I think many investors would sleep more comfortably,” he added. “The great concern, of course, is that this is a prelude to potentially greater commercial restrictions.”
