US President Trump resumes US-China trade war hostilities
(6 May 2019 – United States) The US president has raised pressure on Beijing before new talks to end the simmering trade war.
Negotiations planned to break China's trade stalemate with the US resume this week. US president Donald Trump has threatened to raise tariffs on all Chinese imports to 25 percent, sharply increasing pressure on China to make concessions in a make-or-break round of trade discussions. It follows signals from Washington that a US-China trade deal was imminent.
In a pair of tweets on Sunday, Mr Trump said that levies imposed on Chinese goods over the past year as part of the trade war with Beijing were “partially responsible for our great economic results” and had “little impact on product cost”. He added that the ten percent tariffs on US$200 billion worth of Chinese goods in place would rise to 25 percent this week, and that US$325 billion of additional Chinese goods that were ‘untaxed’ would shortly be subject to tariffs of 25 percent.
Global trade growth has slowed in recent months, with new data showing volumes are falling at the fastest pace since the depths of the financial crisis. Calculations by Bloomberg based on the Dutch statistics office’s trade monitor show a 1.9 percent drop in Q1 2019 compared with Q4 2018. That marks the steepest drop since the period through Q2 2009. Trade negotiations between the United States and China are entering the final stage, but a deal is expected to fall short of addressing several key Trump administration goals, including combating Chinese cybertheft and state subsidies at various levels of the Chinese government.
The move dramatically increases the pressure on China, after Mr Trump previously delayed the tariff increases earlier in the year, citing progress in talks. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is due to travel to Washington following talks in April in Beijing that US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin labelled "productive." So far, the US has imposed tariffs of up to 25 percent on US$250bn of Chinese goods, having accused the country of various unfair trade practices before Beijing hit back with duties on US$110bn of US goods, blaming the US for starting "the largest trade war in economic history".
“For 10 months, China has been paying Tariffs to the USA of 25 percent on 50 Billion Dollars of High Tech, and 10 percent on 200 Billion Dollars of other goods. These payments are partially responsible for our great economic results. The 10 percent will go up to 25 percent on Friday. 325 Billions Dollars. of additional goods sent to us by China remain untaxed, but will be shortly, at a rate of 25 percent. The Tariffs paid to the USA have had little impact on product cost, mostly borne by China. The Trade Deal with China continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate. No!” Mr Trump wrote in a tweet.
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