The rise in tariffs from 84 % to 125 % over all products imported from the United States to China has entered this Saturday in forcein a new episode of the growing commercial war between the two greatest economies in the world.
The measure was announced this Friday by the Committee of Customs Tariffs of the State Council, which justified it as a direct response to the latest rates approved by Washington, which raise the total total of tariffs applied to Chinese exports to 145 %.
For its part, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce accused the United States of applying a policy of “coercive unilateralism” and described the recent tariff offensive as a “game of non -economic numbers.”
According to their statement, American products “no longer have a real market in China” and any new tax will be “irrelevant” and will end up “a mockery in the history of the world economy.”
Chinese exterior spokesman Lin Jian said Friday that China “does not want a commercial war, but does not fear it,” and warned Washington to leave the pressures if you really want to solve the tensions “by way of dialogue.”
In his opinion, the countermeasures of Beijing “protect their legitimate interests” and “the international order based on standards.”
China plans to file a new demand before the World Trade Organization (WTO), although it acknowledged that its reach will be limited by the American blockade to the appeal body.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, warned that “reprisals will harm China more” and was “optimistic” before a possible agreement, according to its spokesman Karoline Leavitt, who stressed that “when the United States receives a blow, it counterattacks with more force.”
The European Union, meanwhile, warned yesterday that it will adopt reprisals if a negotiated solution to the commercial war is not reached, which – according to Brussels – will hit the US economy more than the European.
In that same context, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, told the head of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, that “China has always depended on itself” and that it does not fear “irrational reprisals”, in its first public statements since the beginning of the tariff escalation.
The new tariff load comes after a rapid succession of reprisals. On April 10, China had already raised its rates from 34 % to 84 % in response to an additional 50 % tax imposed by the US.
The White House replied by raising the total figure up to 125 %, which leaves the final tax on Chinese products by 145 %.
In parallel to the tariff pulse with the United States, Beijing has intensified its diplomatic agenda in Asia: President Xi Jinping will start next week a tour of Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia, in what the Chinese government considers a “diplomatic priority” to reinforce economic cooperation and cushion the regional impact of the commercial dispute.
