Alwaght- The United States and China have escalated their trade war by imposing more tariffs on billions of dollars' worth of each other's products on Thursday.
The US on Thursday began collecting the additional 25-percent duties on 279 Chinese import product categories, including semiconductors, chemicals, plastics, motorbikes, and electric scooters.
Beijing retaliated with its own fresh tariffs on 16 billion dollars’ worth of additional US imports, including fuel, steel products, automobiles, and medical equipment.
The US and China have slapped retaliatory levies on a combined 100 billion dollars’ worth of products from each other since early July, with more in the pipeline.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry said in an online statement that Beijing “resolutely opposes” the latest tariffs by the US and would respond accordingly, adding that China will file a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the US.
“China resolutely opposes this, and will continue to take necessary countermeasures,” the ministry said. “At the same time, to safeguard free trade and multilateral systems, and defend its own lawful interests, China will file suit regarding these tariff measures under the WTO dispute resolution mechanism.”
US President Donald Trump has threatened to put duties on almost all of the more than 500 billion dollars of Chinese goods exported to the country unless Beijing agrees to sweeping changes to its trade practices.
An editorial in the state-run tabloid Global Times on Thursday criticized the US for “breaking agreements and creating trade conflict” but placed the US-China trade war in the broader context of US disputes with the EU, Canada, and Mexico. “The US is moving further towards unilateralism,” the paper said.
