China begins its tariffs on US agricultural products
Beijing also targets American firms in Trump’s trade battle
By Noam Scheiber and Keith Bradsher The New York Times
Beijing began imposing tariffs Monday on many farm products from the United States, for which China is the largest overseas market. It is the latest escalation of a trade fight between the world’s two largest economies.
The Chinese government announced the tariffs last week, shortly after President Donald Trump raised tariffs on Chinese products for the second time since he took office in January. The Chinese tariffs will include a levy of 15% on U.S. products like chicken, wheat and corn, as well as 10% on products like soybeans, pork, beef and fruit.
Beijing said that goods that had already been shipped before Monday and imported by April 12 would not be subject to the new tariffs. Because crops like soybeans, wheat and corn, in particular, tend to travel by sea, this means that China’s customs officials will actually collect few tariffs until shipments arrive in China after leaving the United States on Monday or later.
A spokesperson for the National People’s Congress, which is now holding China’s annual legislative session, said last week that Trump’s latest tariffs had “disrupted the security and stability of the global industrial and supply chains.”
The Chinese government also said it was blocking 15 U.S. companies from buying Chinese products unless it granted special permission, including a manufacturer of drones that supplies the U.S. military. And it said it was blocking another 10 U.S. companies from doing business in China.
Trump has contended that tariffs are needed on imports from China, most of which are manufactured goods, to allow the United States to rebuild its industrial sector and also to generate tax revenue for the federal budget. He imposed a 10% tariff on almost all imports from China in early February and raised the tariff to 20% last week. Trump has said the actions were intended partly to pressure China to reduce the flow of the opioid fentanyl into the United States.
Trump also imposed 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico last Tuesday, though he suspended many of those levies two days later.
He has added 20% tariffs to the roughly $440 billion worth of Chinese goods that the United States imports annually. The average U.S. tariff on affected Chinese goods now stands at 39%, up from 3% when Trump began his first term eight years ago. Other than China, Canada and Mexico, the United States collects tariffs averaging about 3% on most countries.
Despite the recent escalations in the trade war between U.S. and China, both sides have signaled that they may be open to a compromise. Last week,
China’s commerce minister told reporters that he had invited his American counterpart and the U.S. trade representative to a meeting. And last month, Trump said that a new trade deal with China was “possible.”
Monday’s levies are not the first time in recent weeks that China has responded in kind to Trump’s trade actions. After the president imposed 10% tariffs in early February, China said it would place tariffs on natural gas, coal and farm equipment purchased from the United States.