China has responded to Donald Trump’s new trade tariffs with its own charges on US goods. After Trump announced the imposition of an additional 34 percent charge on Chinese imports into the US, China has announced a levy at the same rate for US goods shipped to China.
It has also barred 11 US companies from trading in the country, applied new restrictions to rare earth mineral exports, filed a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization (WTO), and started investigations into imports of American medical equipment.
In a statement announcing the new tariff, China’s finance ministry declared that the US tariff on Chinese goods “seriously undermines China’s legitimate rights and interests,” and called it a “typical unilateral bullying practice.”
Trump announced his latest levy on Chinese imports as part of new tariff rates that affect every country the US trades with, including a few uninhabited islands. It followed two separate 10 percent tariffs from earlier in the year, bringing the US’s total tariff on Chinese goods to 54 percent. He also signed an executive order ending the “de minimis” exemption for packages valued below $800, which could be a death blow for Chinese retailers like Shein and Temu.
“China urges the United States to immediately cancel its unilateral tariff measures and resolve trade differences through consultation in an equal, respectful and mutually beneficial manner,” the statement concludes.
The Chinese levy will go into effect on April 10th, one day after the US’s new tariff starts to apply. China has also imposed strict limits on the exports of some rare earth elements that are mined almost exclusively in China, used in electric vehicles, weapons, and other tech.
The country has also barred 11 American businesses accused of “military and technological cooperation with Taiwan” from importing to, exporting from, or investing in China, adding them to its “Unreliable Entity List.” The new additions, mostly made up of drone and defense companies, include drone manufacturer Skydio, which started making out consumer drones but pivoted entirely to enterprise in 2023.
The BBC reports that China has also filed a lawsuit with the WTO, which follows a dispute complaint it lodged with the organization in early February following Trump’s previous tariffs on the country.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
