Trade
Wars
In an
attempt to kick Washington in its natural resources, Beijing has
revealed a list of US goods set to be affected by the first round of
retaliatory tariffs that will come into effect on July 6.
China
will set a 25-percent tariff on 545 American products worth $50
billion in agriculture products, cars, and seafood, according to
Chinese state-run Xinhua News Agency. The decision on the remaining
114 items, including chemicals, medical equipment, and energy
industry products, will be “announced later.”
Last
week, the White House announced import levies targeting $50 billion
of goods from China, aiming to curb unfair trade practices by
Beijing. The measure, which comes into effect on July 6, targets
1,102 separate product categories, with the first package of tariffs
to be applied to $34 billion of Chinese goods.
China,
the world’s largest commodities consumer, started levying
additional taxes on American fruit, nuts, pork, and wine in
retaliation to US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel and
aluminum. Back then, Beijing imposed taxes on soybean, corn, wheat,
rice, sorghum, beef, pork, poultry, fish, dairy products, nuts and
vegetables. The new list covers more agricultural products, including
dairy, alfalfa, and seafood.
The US
coal industry may become the next casualty in the ongoing trade war
between the world’s two biggest economies. American miners are
deeply dependent on foreign markets. In 2017, US coal exports jumped
by 61 percent as shipments to Asia more than doubled, Bloomberg
reported. Meanwhile, China reportedly purchased 271 million tons from
overseas.
The US
share of Chinese coal imports amounted to 2.9 million tons, according
to Energy Information Administration. The total value of US coal sold
to China in 2017 was about $395 million. Ninety percent of the amount
was metallurgical coal aimed at making steel.
More:
Amid the
increasingly tense standoff on trade between the US on one side and
China, Canada, Mexico, and the European Union on the other, Sputnik
decided to dust off an old video providing insight into the logic
behind President Trump's trade tug-of-war:
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