Washington/Beijing: The US and China on Friday launched tit-for-tat tariffs on each other’s imports, the opening shots in what Beijing called “the largest trade war in economic history” between the world’s top two economies.
At the stroke of midnight Washington time, the US pulled the trigger on 25-per cent duties on about $34 billion in Chinese machinery, electronics and high-tech equipment, including autos, computer hard drives and LEDs.
The foreign ministry in Beijing said retaliatory measures “took effect immediately” with state news agency Xinhua confirming they were also 25-per cent tariffs on an equal amount of goods.
Economists have warned escalating trade frictions could throttle global growth and strike at the heart of the world trading system, causing shockwaves across the planet.
Friday’s tariffs could just be the opening skirmishes in the trade war, as US President Donald Trump has vowed to hit as much as $450 billion in Chinese goods, the vast majority of imports.
Months of dialogue between the two economic superpowers appeared to have failed, with Trump warning just hours before the tariffs came into effect that Washington was ready to impose duties on hundreds of billions of dollars more in Chinese imports.
Trump has for years slammed what he describes as Beijing’s underhand economic treatment of the United States, with the US trade deficit in goods with China ballooning to a record $375.2 billion last year.
US officials accuse China of building its emerging industrial dominance by stealing the “crown jewels” of American technological know-how through cyber-theft, forced transfers of intellectual property and state-sponsored corporate acquisitions.
And despite dire warnings about the impact on the US, Trump believes the robust American economy can outlast its rivals in the current battle.
But China also believes that its economy, with a greater focus on domestic demand and a reduced dependence on exports, can ride out the storm.
A member of China’s central bank monetary policy committee, Ma Jun, said on Friday that the first punches will have a “limited impact” on the Chinese economy.
“The $50-billion trade war will slow down China’s GDP growth by 0.2 percentage points,” Ma told Xinhua, China’s official news agency.
With only $130 billion in US imports to retaliate against, Beijing has said it will take “qualitative” and “quantitative” measures against the US, triggering fears it could cripple the operations of US multinationals in China.
“A trade war benefits no-one because it hurts free trade and the multilateral process,” China’s Prime Minister Li Keqiang said on a visit to Sofia.
Chinese stocks actually rose after the announcement, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up nearly one per cent and the Shenzhen index climbing more than one per cent.
Stocks fell back slightly from that point, with Shanghai closing up half a percentage point.
Li Daxiao, analyst at Yingda Securities, said news of the tariffs was already priced into the market, “therefore investors are not in as much of a panic as before.” — AFP
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