China responded to the general tariffs of President Donald Trump about Chinese products with tariffs on selected US imports. UU. Tuesday, as well as announcing an antitrust investigation in Google and other commercial measures.
American tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico also entered into force on Tuesday before Trump agreed for a 30 -day break, since the two countries acted to appease their concerns about border security and drug trafficking. Trump planned to talk to Chinese President Xi Jinping in the next few days.
The Chinese response “measured,” said John Gong, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics at Beijing. “I don’t think they want the commercial war to intensify,” he said. “And see this example of Canada and Mexico and probably expect the same.”
This is not the first round of Tit-for Tat shares between the two countries. China and the United States had involved in a commercial war in 2018 when Trump raised tariffs on Chinese and China products responded in kind.
This time, analysts said, China is much better prepared to counteract, and the government announces a series of measures that cross different sectors of the economy, from energy to individual American companies.
China said it would implement a 15% rate on coal and liquefied natural gas products, as well as a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery and large motor cars imported from the US. UU. Rates would go into force next Monday.
“The increase in the unilateral rate of the United States seriously violates the rules of the World Trade Organization,” said the State Council Tariff Commission in a statement. “It is not only useless to solve their own problems, but also damages normal economic and commercial cooperation between China and the United States”
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The impact on US exports can be limited. Although the United States is the largest liquid natural gas exporter worldwide, it does not export much to China. In 2023, the United States exported 173,247 million cubic feet from LNG to China, which represents approximately 2.3% of total natural gas exports, according to the United States Energy Information Administration.
China imported only around 700,000 cars in general last year, and the important importers are from Europe and Japan, said Bill Russo, the founder of Limited Automobility consulting in Shanghai.
Additional export controls on critical minerals
China announced export controls in several critical elements for the production of modern high -tech products.
They include Tungsten, Telurio, Bismuto, Molybdenum and Indian, many of which are designated as critical minerals by the United States geological service, which means that they are essential for the economic or national security of the United States that have supply chains vulnerable to interruption.
Export controls are added to those that China placed in December in key elements such as Gallium.
“They have a much more developed export control regime,” said Philip Luck, economist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and former official of the State Department, in a discussion panel on Monday.
“We depend on them for many critical minerals: Galio, Germanio, Grafito, a large number of others,” he said. “Then … they could put significant damage in our economy.”
China’s response appears calculated and measured, said Stephen Dover, strategist head of the market and head of the Franklin Templeton Institute, a financial research firm. However, he said, the world is preparing for greater impact.
“A risk is that this is the beginning of a Tit -for Tat commercial war, which could result in lower GDP growth everywhere, greater inflation in the United States, a stronger dollar and upward pressure in The interest rates of the United States, “said Dover.
American companies also affected
In addition, the State Market Regulation Administration of China said Tuesday that it is investigating Google on suspicion of violating antimonopoly laws. The announcement did not mention the tariffs, but there was a few minutes after Trump’s tariffs about China came into force.
It is not clear how the probe will affect Google operations. The company has long faced complaints from Chinese smartphone manufacturers for its commercial practices that surround the Android operating system, Gong said.
Otherwise, Google has a limited presence in China, and its search engine is blocked in the country as most other western platforms. Google left the Chinese market in 2010 after refusing to comply with the censorship requests of the Chinese government and after a series of cyber attacks in the company.
Google did not comment immediately.
The Ministry of Commerce also placed two US companies in a list of unreliable entities: PVH Group, owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, and Illumina, which is a biotechnology company with offices in China. The list could prohibit them from participating in import or export activities related to China and making new investments in the country.
Beijing began investigating PVH Group in September last year on “inappropriate behavior related to Xinjiang” after the company supposedly boycott the use of Xinjiang cotton.
Putting these US companies in the list of unreliable entities is “alarming” because it shows that the Chinese government is using the list to press US companies to take a side, said George Chen, managing director of Asia Group, a business Based in Washington DC. Policy consulting.
“It is almost like telling US companies, what their government is doing is bad, it must tell the Government that if you add more rates or hurt relations between the United States and China at the end of the day, it will become against US companies,” Cen said.
Wu reported from Bangkok. AP Zen Soo writers in Hong Kong and Christopher Bodeen in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.
