CHINA has announced a $3 billion (£2.13bn) list of US goods including pork, apples and steel pipe that may be hit with higher tariffs as part of a spiralling trade dispute with Donald Trump.
Companies and investors worry the row could depress global commerce, while the Chinese trade ministry has urged Washington to negotiate a prompt settlement to the conflict over the President’s tariff hike on steel and aluminium.
The ministry also criticised Trump’s decision to approve a possible tariff hike on billions of dollars of Chinese goods in a dispute over Beijing’s technology policy. The ministry slammed that as “trade protectionism” but gave no indication how Beijing might respond.
China’s proposed tariff hikes in response to the steel and aluminium duties appeared to be aimed at increasing domestic US pressure on Trump by making clear which exporters, including farm areas that voted for the president in 2016, might be hurt.
The ministry said Beijing was considering a tariff increase of 25 per cent on pork and aluminium scrap. A second list of goods including wine, apples, ethanol and stainless steel pipe would be charged 15 per cent.
The ministry said Chinese purchases of those goods last year totalled 3 billion dollars (£2.13bn).
That would be less than 1 per cent of Chinese imports of US goods and far smaller than the range of imports targeted by Trump’s order in the technology dispute.
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