Carlos Bastarache: china-tariffs-us-goods-jpg.jpeg

Monday, 2 April 2018

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I always thought things that sounded too good to be true usually aren't told why discovered this!

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On Monday, China made good on its promised economic retaliation for President Trump’s slapping them with $50 billion in new tariffs by imposing $3 billion of its own tariffs against the United States. The new tariffs target 128 different American products, including various meats, fruits, and steel items, and they will go into effect immediately. Even so, the White House subsequently announced that it would unveil the list of Chinese exports its previously revealed tariffs would be targeting later this week, thereby escalating what many experts fear could be a new trade war.

For despite a previous report’s claim that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were trying to negotiate trade deals with China behind the scenes, it seems China has no interest in simply letting President Trump get away with his steel and aluminum tariffs. Hence the response worth $3 billion:

China’s commerce and finance ministries said in statements late Sunday that authorities are imposing tariffs of 15% on 120 American products — such as fruits, nuts, wine and steel pipes — and 25% on eight other products, including pork and recycled aluminum.

Yet Sunday’s announcement of Monday’s new tariffs against the U.S. was by no means the last word, as the Trump administration is still preparing to announce the particulars of the $50 billion in tariffs it laid out specifically targeting China. According to Reuters, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has until Friday to unveil the list of products highlighted by the tariffs, but many expect they will target “largely high-technology” products.

(Via CNN and Reuters)