So far, Washington has imposed tariffs on some $250 billion of Chinese goods, while Beijing has retaliated with tariffs on $110 billion of US products.
US President Donald Trump (Photo: IANS)
The US on Sunday imposed fresh tariffs on $112 billion worth of Chinese imported goods, marking a sharp escalation of the bruising trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
So far, Washington has imposed tariffs on some $250 billion of Chinese goods, while Beijing has retaliated with tariffs on $110 billion of US products, the BBC reported.
The latest tariffs come into force at 12.01 am, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR).
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On August 23, US President Donald Trump announced that from September 1 onwards, he would raise tariffs from 10 per cent to 15 per cent on a substantial portion of Chinese imports in response to levies by China on American goods.
Trump also announced another increase in tariffs that is set to come into effect next month.
Sunday’s move is the first phase of Trump’s latest plan to place 15 per cent duties on $300 billion of Chinese imports by the end of the year.
Earlier on Wednesday, the US Trade Representative’s office reaffirmed Trump’s plans to impose an additional 5 per cent tariff on a US$300 billion list of Chinese imports starting on Sept 1 and Dec 15.
The dispute between the world’s two biggest economies in July 2018 boiled over into tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of each other’s goods and threatens to engulf all trade between the countries, putting global growth at risk.
USTR accuses China of “unfair acts, policies and practices,” including its retaliatory tariffs and “concrete steps to devalue its currency,” allegations denied by Beijing.
Donald Trump launched the trade war as part of his “America First” bid to lower a wide trade deficit with China, but the tariffs imposed thus far have barely made a dent in that gap.
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