China announces new tariffs on USD 50 billion US goods

In response to United States President Donald Trump's new tariffs, China threatened tariffs of its own on 106 US products, including on soybeans, cars and some airplanes.

China's Ministry of Commerce said that it planned to slap 25 percent levies on a range of U.S. goods worth about USD 50 billion.

This comes after the Trump administration announced a proposed list of products for imposing trade tariffs on Chinese goods worth USD 50 billion, with a suggested tariff rate of 25 percent.

A statement from China's Ministry of Commerce read, "The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council has decided to impose additional tariffs of 25 percent on 106 items of products under 14 categories," reported Xinhua news agency.

 

It said that the date of implementing the trade tariffs would depend on when the US would impose the same on the Chinese goods.

The statement further stated that the US move was "an evident violation of rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)."

"The US move severely infringed on the legitimate rights and interests that China enjoys in accordance with the WTO rules, and threatened China's economic interests and security," it added.

"New tariffs China decided to impose on US products were a reaction to the emergency caused by the U.S. violation of international obligations," the Chinese Commerce Ministry continued.

Meanwhile, Beijing said that the economies of China and the US were highly complementary and said cooperation was the only right choice between the two countries to solve the differences.

For those unversed, China on Monday imposed trade tariffs on the United States amounting to USD 3 billion in retaliation to the latter's decision of imposing similar trade tariffs on Chinese goods last month.

According to China's Finance Ministry, it suspended tariff concessions on 128 American items, including aluminium, fruits, and pork.

The statement espoused that Beijing had taken a "countermeasure", in response to Washington D.C.'s earlier move to impose tariffs on aluminium and steel imports.

On March 23, Trump imposed massive trade tariffs amounting to USD 60 billion on China, in an effort to stop the latter from stealing "intellectual property" from American companies.