Beijing/Washington, Apr 9 (UNI) The tariff war between the US and China escalated as Beijing imposed a retaliatory 84 percent tariff on American goods today, and declared it wouldn’t back down from a trade war.
Lashing out against President Donald Trump’s tariffs, China’s State Council Tariff Commission said in a statement: “The US escalation of tariffs on China is a mistake upon mistake, severely infringing upon China’s legitimate rights and interests, and seriously damaging the multilateral trading system based on rules.”
In addition to the tit-for-tat tariffs, China’s Commerce Ministry also retaliated against Trump’s tariffs by imposing export controls on 12 American companies and added six more US firms to its “unreliable entity list”, the CNN reported.
Companies on that list are banned from trading or investing in China.
Meanwhile, China also filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization over the latest US tariffs, according to the Commerce Ministry.
Chinese President Xi Jinping took the harsh decision after the US imposed 104 percent duty on Chinese goods.
This has rattled the global market and triggered fear of recession.
Both countries appear rigid in their stand and are not ready to find an amicable solution to the tariff issue that has caused upheaval in the world market.
Meanwhile, US stock futures tumbled Wednesday after China announced significant retaliation against President Trump’s enormous “reciprocal” tariffs that went into effect Wednesday, upending global trade.
China’s new tariffs on US goods stand at 84%, matching the additional tariff the Trump administration placed on the world’s second-biggest economy.
Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, America’s largest in a century, place massive across-the-board import taxes, some as high as 50%, on dozens of nations. China, an extreme outlier, now faces a US tariff of at least 104%, compounding the new tariffs with ones already in place.
US stock futures tumbled, set to open lower for the fifth straight session. Dow futures fell 500 points, or 1.4%. The S&P 500 was down 1.2%. Meanwhile, Nasdaq futures were trading 1% lower.
Earlier, China had urged President Trump to engage in dialogue rather than taking harsh tariff measures.
The Chinese Finance Minister said the additional tariff will come into effect from April 10.
