While talks between the United States and China will continue Friday, the U.S. moved forward with hiking tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods.
“This evening, Ambassador Lightizer and Secretary Mnuchin met with President Trump to discuss the ongoing trade negotiations with China," White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere said in a statement. “The Ambassador and Secretary then had a working dinner with Vice Premier Liu He, and agreed to continue discussions tomorrow morning at USTR."
The new tariffs, which kicked in at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, will raise the import taxes from 10 percent to 25 percent.
China vowed to take “necessary countermeasures,” expressing “deep regret over the development.”
"We hope the United States will meet us halfway, and work with us to resolve existing issues through cooperation and consultation," China's Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.
There were no specifics on what China’s retaliatory measures will include.
The bulk of goods facing increase tariffs are items such as circuit boards, vehicle parts and machinery, according to the Wall Street Journal. The proposed tariffs on the reminder of Chinese imports – the $200 billion worth of goods – would no doubt affect consumers. Those goods include iPhones, laptops, clothing and other everyday products. (FoxNews.com)
Over the weekend Trump said a deal was within reach but then China started renegotiating.
“We can’t have that,” he said. “[W]e’re going to make either a real deal, or we’re not going to make a deal at all. And if we don’t make a deal we’re going to tariff China, and that’ll be fine. We’ll -- frankly we’ll make a lot of money."
Trump commented on the tariffs Friday morning in a series of tweets.
....The process has begun to place additional Tariffs at 25% on the remaining 325 Billion Dollars. The U.S. only sells China approximately 100 Billion Dollars of goods & products, a very big imbalance. With the over 100 Billion Dollars in Tariffs that we take in, we will buy.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2019
....agricultural products from our Great Farmers, in larger amounts than China ever did, and ship it to poor & starving countries in the form of humanitarian assistance. In the meantime we will continue to negotiate with China in the hopes that they do not again try to redo deal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2019
Tariffs will bring in FAR MORE wealth to our Country than even a phenomenal deal of the traditional kind. Also, much easier & quicker to do. Our Farmers will do better, faster, and starving nations can now be helped. Waivers on some products will be granted, or go to new source!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2019
....If we bought 15 Billion Dollars of Agriculture from our Farmers, far more than China buys now, we would have more than 85 Billion Dollars left over for new Infrastructure, Healthcare, or anything else. China would greatly slow down, and we would automatically speed up!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2019
We have lost 500 Billion Dollars a year, for many years, on Crazy Trade with China. NO MORE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2019