Upcoming at 16:30 Beijing time, 0830 GMT, China’s commerce and finance ministries will hold a press briefing regarding the US Section 301 tariffs. It believed that retaliatory measure will be announced during the briefing. China has pledged to take counter measures at the same intensity and proportionality. But no detail is leaked so far. The worst for the market is that China’s response will prompt counter retaliation by the US. That could lead to escalating tariffs that drastically reduce the trade activities between the two countries.
China’s envoy to the WTO, Zhang Xiangchen criticized that the tariffs on USD 50b of China import to the US is “an intentional and gross violation of the WTO’s fundamental principles of non-discrimination and bound tariffs.” And he urged other WTO members to “join with China in firmly resisting U.S. protectionism”.
Reactions to US announce of the product list of Section 301 tariffs were initially muted. Japan Nikkei has indeed closed up 0.13%. But fear in the stock markets start to build up with Hong Kong HSI suffering sharp fall in the afternoon, and is trading down -1.44%.
The currency markets are rather steady though, with NZDCHF, NZDUSD topping the top movers chart with slight gains.
