Trump readies new tariffs on China

The Trump administration is preparing another round of tariffs on Chinese goods worth $200 billion, ramping up the US-China trade war.

Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Tuesday released a list of thousands of additional goods that could face 10% tariffs after a public comment period. It includes fruit and vegetables, handbags, refrigerators, rain jackets and baseball gloves.

The move comes after the United States imposed 25% tariffs on Chinese goods worth $34 billion last Friday. Beijing immediately responded with its own tariffs on US goods worth $34 billion.
Tuesday’s action makes good on a threat President Donald Trump made last month. He directed Lighthizer to identify $200 billion in Chinese goods for tariffs if China retaliated against US penalties that are meant to punish the country for intellectual property theft.

“China apparently has no intention of changing its unfair practices related to the acquisition of American intellectual property and technology,” Trump said in June. “Rather than altering those practices, it is now threatening United States companies, workers, and farmers who have done nothing wrong.”

The retaliatory tariffs that China enacted Friday targeted US cars and major agricultural goods, such as soybeans and meat.

China’s Commerce Ministry said Wednesday that the Trump administration’s announcement of new measures was “unacceptable.” It warned that China would have to respond with “necessary countermeasures” without providing details.

“The action from the US is hurting China, hurting the whole world and also hurting the US itself,” the ministry said in a statement.

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