China announced a tariff hike on $50 billion of U.S. goods Wednesday, including on cars, aircraft, and soybeans. The move is in retaliation for the U.S.’s proposed tariff hikes on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods.
China’s Commerce Ministry said their response was about projecting Beijing’s “legitimate rights and interests.”
The Chinese tax agency said the date the 25 percent tariff hike might take effect would be announced later depending on what U.S. President Donald Trump's government does about plans to raise duties on a similar amount of Chinese goods. A Commerce Ministry statement said China was protecting its "legitimate rights and interests."
Chinese authorities warned they would respond with the "same strength" after U.S. authorities issued a list of Chinese goods Tuesday targeted for 25 percent duties in response to complaints Beijing pressures foreign companies to hand over technology. (AP)
China targeted 106 items, including U.S. beef, whisky, passenger vehicles and industrial chemicals, which "strike at the core of commercial relations between the two countries, and at some of the most politically sensitive goods in core Trump constituencies," Bloomberg reports.
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The Chinese Foreign Ministry is urging the U.S. to come to the table to discuss the trade dispute between the two countries.
These talks, however, would require "mutual respect and equal treatment, instead of being coerced by one party unilaterally and condescendingly,” Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday, reports AP.
Neither party should be "threatening the other with senseless and unreasonable demands,” he added.
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