China vows resolute countermeasures against US reciprocal tariffs

Beijing, Apr 3 (PTI) China on Thursday said it will resolutely adopt countermeasures after President Donald Trump imposed 34 per cent tariffs on over USD 438 billion Chinese imports to America, which is China’s third largest export market.  Trump announced tariffs on Chinese imports on Wednesday, unveiling them as part of a sweeping “Liberation Day” package aimed at reshaping American trade policy.

China firmly opposes the US "reciprocal tariffs" and will resolutely adopt countermeasures to safeguard its rights and interests, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce said after Trump’s announcement.

The tariffs brought the total levies on China to 54 per cent, close to the 60 per cent Trump threatened during his poll campaign.

Trump had earlier imposed two rounds of 10 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods, first in February and then in March this year.

Trump earlier said he would consider lowering tariffs on China if Beijing supported a deal for ByteDance to divest its short-video app TikTok to a US buyer.

China earlier also retaliated against Trump’s tariffs with an additional 15 per cent tariffs on American goods and initiated legal action against Washington in WTO.          Additionally, China added 10 US firms to the country's unreliable entity list and took corresponding measures against them.

They include a number of companies linked to defence and security besides AI, aviation, IT and “dual-use” items that carry both civilian and military applications.

Though Chinese officials argue that the new tariffs would hurt the US consumers more, the new tariffs were expected to lower substantial exports to the US hitting its industries back home heavily which is already reeling under the impact of the slowdown of the Chinese economy.

The US constitutes China’s third biggest export destination after ASEAN and the European Union.    The US total goods trade with China was an estimated USD 582.4 billion in 2024, according to the figures from the Office of the US Trade Representative.

US goods exports to China in 2024 were USD 143.5 while the US imports from China in 2024 totalled USD 438.9 billion.

The US goods trade deficit with China was USD 295.4 billion in 2024.

With heavy tariffs, Trump is putting pressure on China to buy more US industrial and agricultural goods and products.

Speaking from the White House's Rose Garden Trump said “we’re going to be charging a discounted reciprocal tariff of 34 per cent”.

China, he said, charged tariffs of 67 per cent to the US, noting that the figure included the effects of currency manipulation and trade barriers.

The new 34 per cent tariffs on Chinese imports reflect a 10 per cent universal baseline plus 24 per cent specific to the country. The 10 per cent will come into effect on April 5 while the higher reciprocal tariffs will take effect on April 9.

Trump had vowed for months to impose reciprocal tariffs to match other countries’ higher tariff rates for specific goods and offset non-tariff barriers that put US exports at a disadvantage, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

The new levies, Trump said, would correct years of “unfair” trade during which other countries had been “ripping” off the US.

At the White House, Trump described his actions on China as “tough love”.

“I have great respect for President Xi (Jinping) of China, great respect for China, but they were taking tremendous advantage,” he said.

Responding to the tariff announcement, Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said: “China’s opposition to the imposition of additional tariffs has always been consistent and clear.” “China believes that protectionism leads nowhere, and trade and tariff wars have no winners,” the Post quoted Liu as saying. PTI KJV  NSA NSA NSA

Source: PTI