China said it would increase tariffs on American goods to 84% starting Thursday, reaffirming its commitment to “fight to the end” in the growing trade battle with the United States.
After U.S. President Donald Trump increased the overall tax on Chinese imports to 104%, Beijing also implemented a number of countermeasures.
Beijing imposed more restrictions on American companies’ trade with Chinese enterprises and announced that it was filing a second lawsuit against the United States at the World Trade Organization.
In a statement announcing its white paper on trade with the United States, the Ministry of Commerce said,
“China has the firm will and abundant means to take necessary countermeasures and fight to the end if the U.S. insists on further escalating its economic and trade restrictions.”
Laptops 1000As many other nations have begun to do, the government remained silent on whether it would engage in negotiations with the White House.
China responded to Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs on Friday by announcing a 34% duty on all U.S. imports, export restrictions on rare earth minerals, and numerous other measures.
Trump then declared that talks with China were over and imposed an additional 50% tariff on Chinese imports.
As part of Wednesday’s latest actions, 11 American businesses were added to a list of “unreliable entities,” which would prevent Chinese businesses from selling them dual-use products.
Among the businesses are SYNEXXUS and American Photonics, both of which collaborate with the US military.
China hasn’t shown any desire to negotiate thus far. “The United States should adopt an attitude of equality, respect, and mutual benefit if it truly wants to resolve issues through dialogue and negotiation,” stated Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian on Wednesday.
According to the report, the United States has failed to live up to the commitments made in the phase 1 trade agreement reached during Trump’s first term.
For instance, it said that a U.S. law that would prohibit TikTok unless its Chinese parent company sold it would be in violation of a pledge made by both parties that neither would “push the other party to transfer technology to its own individuals.”
The sale of TikTok to American owners was put on hold last week, and Trump signed an order to keep the app operational for an additional 75 days.
Representatives from ByteDance called the White House to inform them that China would not authorize the agreement until trade and tariff negotiations could take place.
The study also made the case that economic interaction between the two nations is “roughly in balance” when the trade of services and domestic Chinese branches of American corporations are taken into consideration.
It states that in 2023, China’s trade imbalance with the United States in services, which includes banking, accountancy, and insurance, was $26.57 billion.
The goal of Trump’s tariffs was to reduce trade deficits with other nations, but those deficits were only determined by trade in tangible, physical commodities.
“Facts and history have demonstrated that the United States’ tariff hike will not address its issues,” the Chinese commerce ministry said in a statement.
“On the contrary, it will cause rapid changes in financial markets, increase inflation pressure in the United States, erode the industrial base in the United States, and raise the possibility of a U.S. economic recession, which will ultimately only hurt itself.”
