The People’s Republic of China announced on Friday countermeasures against the tariffs imposed by the United States (US) President Donald Trump, including additional tariffs of 34 per cent on all goods and curbs on the export of some rare earths.
Saturday Telegraph recalls that President Trump on Wednesday announced that China would be hit with a 34- per cent tariff, on top of the 20 per cent he imposed earlier this year, bringing the total new levies to 54 percent.
In response, China’s Ministry of Finance said a retaliatory additional tariffs would be imposed from Thursday, April 10.
It would be recalled that Beijing has previously imposed tariffs of 15 per cent on imports of coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US in retaliation for Washington’s 10 percent levies on Chinese goods.
It also announced stiff export controls on key minerals and businesses, limiting what could be exchanged with the US.
“The purpose of the Chinese government’s implementation of export controls on relevant items in accordance with the law is to better safeguard national security and interests, and to fulfil international obligations such as non-proliferation,” the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.
Trump responded to the slate of retaliatory measures with a fiery social media post written in all capital letters.
“CHINA PLAYED IT WRONG. THEY PANICKED – THE ONE THING THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO DO!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Furthermore, China has pushed forward with countering Trump’s aggressive trade policies, saying it opened a formal complaint against the new US tariffs with the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Friday.
As part of its complaint, Beijing argued the measures violate WTO rules and requested consultations.
Beijing also imposed sweeping export controls to limit the exchange of goods and services with the US. Some pertained to the export of medium and heavy rare earths to the US, including samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium, effective from April 4.
Others took aim at US businesses. China added 16 US entities to its export control list, which bans the export of dual-use items to affected firms.
