After coming to power, Trump has imposed 25 per cent import tariff on Chinese products worth USD 250 billion.
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi jinping (Photo: IANS)
Amid growing trade war, China is no longer the top trading partner of the United States and has been replaced by America’s neighbours Mexico and Canada, according to reports on Saturday.
In the first half of the year, Mexico was the top trading partner of the United States followed by Canada, the latest official data reveals, The Wall Street Journal reported.
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As a result of the ongoing trade war between the US and China, imports from China to the US dropped by 12 per cent and America’s export to China fell by 19 per cent, the daily said.
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After coming to power, Trump has imposed 25 per cent import tariff on Chinese products worth USD 250 billion.
On Friday, US President had escalated his trade war with China by announcing that he would impose 10 per cent tariff on another $300 billion of Chinese goods that will take effect September 1, prompting a swift rebuke from Beijing and jolting global financial markets.
“Our representatives have just returned from China where they had constructive talks having to do with a future Trade Deal. We thought we had a deal with China three months ago, but sadly, China decided to re-negotiate the deal prior to signing,” Trump tweeted on Thursday.
The development comes after the latest round of talks led by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin with a Chinese delegation headed by Vice Premier Liu He in Shanghai showed little sign of a breakthrough.
According to a Commerce Department report, the total value of bilateral goods exchanged with China fell 14 per cent in the first half of the year to USD 271.04 billion, The Wall Street Journal said.
After holding the top spot among US trading partners from 2015 to 2018, China now sits at No. 3 and now smaller than Mexico for the first time since 2005,” it added.
China has also taken several retaliatory steps in the past.
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