The U.S. administration ramped up further tariff increases on goods imports from China last week. The U.S. President Donald Trump announced new tariffs after the closing bell for the stock markets on Monday. This was later followed up by a series of tweets taking a swing at Beijing.
President Trump said that China had openly admitted that they were impacting and changing the elections by attacking the farmers and industrial workers.
He, however, brushed aside his suspicions noting that the tariffs were as a result of the actions from Beijing.
The tariffs came as the President initially announced last week, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Trump said that both sides were preparing to hold fresh talks on the tariffs and he expected a deal soon.
Both the administrations have already imposed 25 percent tariffs on over $50 billion of goods from either side. Beijing had further issued new taxes on $60 billion on U.S. goods if the next round of tariffs went into effect.
The new tariffs which are expected to hit over $200 billion in Chinese goods come into effect from Monday, September 24. The tariffs, starting at 10% will be raised to 25% at the start of next year. However, this is subject to the outcome of further negotiations and if China and the U.S. couldn’t agree.
Lindsay Walters, the White House spokeswoman said “The President has been clear that he and his administration will continue to take action to address China’s unfair trade practices. We encourage China to address the long-standing concerns raised by the United States.”
The President also warned that any retaliatory measures taken by China could result in further tariff hikes. However, China was quick to respond to the threats.
Officials in Beijing slammed the U.S. by imposing 25% tariffs on soybean imports from the U.S.
China has been targeting the soybean sector and other farming products in the agricultural belt in a bid to weaken support for Trump.
The U.S. President said that his administration was open to making a deal to end the trade wars before consumers on both ends start to feel the pain of higher costs.
“China has had many opportunities to address our concerns fully,” Trump said noting that “I urge China’s leaders to take swift action to end their country’s unfair trade practices.”
The President also threatened to add further tariffs amount to $267 billion on Chinese goods. This would raise the total to $517 billion which leads to pretty much everything that the U.S. imports from China.
Beijing officials, however, called the bluff by adding their tariffs on U.S. goods. Currently, China is seen targeting $60 billion in U.S. products. This is expected to come into effect from September 24. The Chinese administration already levied tariffs of 10% and 5% on over 5000 goods, ranging from coffee and honey to industrial chemicals.
The new round of tariffs comes as the U.S. heads into the mid-term elections.
The market reaction to the news was primarily muted, but this could potentially change if the tariffs went into effect.
China was seen assuring the markets as it said that it had sufficient tools to steer through the economic challenges. Growth is expected to slow in the coming quarters. Recent data already indicated that producer prices were falling.
China is currently targeting a growth rate of around 6.5% for this year while targeting a 3% inflation rate.
