BEIJING/WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The United States began imposing 15% tariffs on a variety of Chinese goods yesterday – including footwear, smart watches and flat-panel televisions – as China began imposing new duties on U.S. crude, the latest escalation in a bruising trade war.
U.S. President Donald Trump said the sides would still meet for talks later this month.
Trump, writing on Twitter, said his goal was to reduce U.S. reliance on China and he again urged American companies to find alternate suppliers outside China.
A new round of tariffs took effect from 0401 GMT (12:01 a.m. EDT), with Beijing’s levy of 5% on U.S. crude marking the first time the fuel had been targeted since the world’s two largest economies started their trade war more than a year ago.
The Trump administration on Sunday began collecting 15% tariffs on more than $125 billion in Chinese imports, including smart speakers, Bluetooth headphones and clothing.
A variety of studies suggest the tariffs will cost U.S. households up to $1,000 a year and the latest round will hit a significant number of U.S. consumer goods.
In retaliation, China started to impose additional tariffs on some of the U.S. goods on a $75 billion target list. Beijing did not specify the value of the goods that face higher tariffs from Sunday.
The extra tariffs of 5% and 10% were levied on 1,717 items of a total of 5,078 products originating from the United States. Beijing will start collecting additional tariffs on the rest from Dec. 15.
Steve Lamar, executive vice president of the American Apparel & Footwear Association, said on Sunday the new tariffs were “just in time for our most important selling season of the year. They claim that they are hurting China but, in reality, they are hurting us. Prices will go up, sales will go down, jobs will be lost.”
He said the United States “can make progress with China when we engage with them in calm, productive talks, not when we make it more expensive for Americans to get dressed everyday.”
Trump on Sunday cited comments from U.S. economist Peter Morici, who said the tariffs would not affect U.S. consumers that much given a drop in the Chinese currency, and the president called on U.S. companies to find suppliers outside of China.
“We don’t want to be servants to the Chinese!” Trump said. “This is about American Freedom. Redirect the supply chain. There is no reason to buy everything from China!”
Later, he told reporters that talks with China were continuing and the two sides would meet in person in September.
“We are talking to China, the meeting is still on, as you know, in September,” he said. “We’ll see what happens, but we can’t allow China to rip us off anymore as a country.”
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told “Fox News Sunday” that Trump was right to confront China, but “unfortunately, he’s done it the wrong way. To take on China, there has to be a multilateral approach. One country can’t take on China to try to dry up its overcapacity because they just send it through to you in other ways.”
Chinese state media struck a defiant note.
“The United States should learn how to behave like a responsible global power and stop acting as a ‘school bully,’” the official Xinhua news agency said.
“As the world’s only superpower, it needs to shoulder its due responsibility, and join other countries in making this world a better and more prosperous place. Only then can America become great again.”
Tariffs could not impede China’s development, said the official People’s Daily of the ruling Communist Party.
