China slaps back

China slaps back at latest United States tariffs in trade war escalation

By TEDDY NG

This story is being published for Pros as part of a content partnership with the South China Morning Post. It originally appeared on scmp.com on Aug. 23, 2018.

China slapped 25 percent tariffs on an additional $16 billion in American goods on Thursday — following a similar move by the United States in their escalating trade war.

The escalation came despite Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen’s current visit to Washington for talks with U.S. Treasury undersecretary David Malpass, in an effort to reduce tensions.

A statement released by the Finance Ministry said the new tariffs had been imposed on U.S. goods after Washington slapped the same level of tariffs on China on Thursday.

A statement released by China’s Commerce Ministry said the latest tariffs by the U.S. were a violation of World Trade Organization rules.

“China has no alternative but to take countermeasures,” it said.

The Chinese tariff list covers 333 products including large passenger cars, motorcycles and baby carriages.

The U.S. added its latest 25 percent tariffs on Thursday, completing Donald Trump’s first round of measures targeting $50 billion in Chinese products. Tariffs on $34 billion in goods were imposed on July 6.

Observers played down the prospect of a breakthrough in the talks between Wang and Malpass, saying they expected tensions to increase further.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow last week warned that China must not underestimate Trump’s determination to force China to change its trade practices.

“The Chinese government, in its totality, must not underestimate President Trump’s toughness and willingness to continue this battle to eliminate tariffs and non-tariff barriers and quotas, to stop the theft of intellectual property and to stop the forced transfer of technology,” Kudlow told U.S. business news network CNBC.

A commentary by state-run news agency Xinhua on Thursday cast a cautious tone on possible outcome of the talks.

“The maximum pressure approach featuring my-way-or-no-way logic and zero-sum mentality has proved fruitless for China, and risks a renewed no-win prospect,” it said.

“While mulling its trade strategy on China, Washington cannot overlook the cries of U.S. industries effected or to be effected by its current confrontation with China.”

The tariffs that the U.S. and China are threatening each other with will cause China’s economy to slow more sharply next year if they are enacted.

The ongoing trade conflict will reduce China’s economic growth by 0.2 percentage points this year and 0.3 percentage points in 2019, according to estimates by economists.

But Zhang Yansheng, chief research fellow of China Centre for International Economic Exchanges, said the U.S. was blaming other countries for its decreasing competitiveness.

“The best strategy that China can adopt is not to react so quickly. Let all problems and differences be fully exposed first in order to do expectation management and form consensus internally. When we are slower, we will make fewer mistakes, and we will be able to better manage and control mistakes when they happen,” he said.