Agencies
Washington/Beijing
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that US President Donald Trump is pausing his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs on most of the country’s biggest trading partners but maintaining his 10 per cent tariff on nearly all global imports.
The Treasury Secretary also said Trump will escalate action against China.
Facing a global market meltdown, Trump on Wednesday abruptly backed down on his tariffs on most nations for 90 days, but raised his tax rate on Chinese imports to 125 per cent.
It was seemingly an attempt to narrow what had been an unprecedented trade war between the US and most of the world to one between the US and China.
Global markets surged on the development, but the precise details of Trump’s plans to ease tariffs on non-China trade partners were not immediately clear.
China on Wednesday hit back at Trump’s tariffs on Chinese exports with 84 per cent levies on its imports from America, intensifying the trade war between the top two economies of the world.
Also, European Union member states voted on Wednesday to approve retaliatory tariffs on $23 billion in goods in response to Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, as the largest US trading partner described them as “unjustified and damaging.”
The Chinese hike in levies, up from 34 per cent, came hours after Trump’s explosive new tariffs on 60 countries, including 104 per cent on China, came into effect after midnight Wednesday (US time).
Trump’s threat of the additional 50 per cent tariffs on China on Monday came after Beijing refused to withdraw the 34 per cent tariffs on US goods by Tuesday, which it had announced to retaliate Trump’s 34 per cent levy on Chinese goods announced last week.
China will hike the additional tariffs on products imported from the United States to 84 per cent effective on Thursday, state-run Xinhua news agency reported quoting the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council’s announcement on Wednesday.
China has filed a lawsuit against the US with the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism following the latest US tariff hikes.
The imposition of additional 50 per cent tariffs is a grave mistake on top of an existing one and highlights the unilateral bullying nature of the US actions, the spokesperson said.
Additionally, China added six US firms to its unreliable entity list, the commerce ministry announced on Wednesday.
Separately, China has added 12 US companies to its export control list, the ministry said, adding, these companies have engaged in activities that may endanger China’s national security and interests.
The tariffs announced by the EU will go into effect in stages, with some on April 15 and others on May 15 and December 1. The EU executive commission didn’t immediately provide a list of the goods.
Members of the 27-country bloc repeated their preference for a negotiated deal to settle trade issues.
“The EU considers US tariffs unjustified and damaging, causing economic harm to both sides, as well as the global economy,” the EU’s executive commission said in a statement. “The EU has stated its clear preference to find negotiated outcomes with the US, which would be balanced and mutually beneficial.”
The targeted goods are a tiny fraction of the 1.6 trillion Euros ( $1.8 trillion) in US-EU annual trade, which sees some 4.4 billion Euros in goods and services cross the Atlantic each day in what the European Commission calls “the most important commercial relationship in the world.”
The head of the EU’s executive commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has offered Trump a zero-for-zero tariffs deal on industrial goods including cars. But Trump has said that’s not enough to satisfy US concerns.
Trump’s expanded steel and aluminum tariffs came into effect in March.
