Upon his presidency starting, President Donald Trump implemented tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China to tackle what the White House has described as an ‘extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl’.
Essentially, tariffs are taxes imposed on foreign goods, meaning many of these goods will cost more to sell in the US – which could ultimately be passed on to the consumer.
Trump signed an executive order last month to add a ten percent tariff on all shipped goods from China, a tariff which has since been increased to 20 percent across the board.
When it comes to China specifically, a press release from the White House claimed Chinese officials had ‘failed to take the actions necessary to stem the flow of precursor chemicals to known criminal cartels and shut down money laundering by transnational criminal organizations’.
The trade war official began on February 4, but it didn’t take long for President Xi Jinping to retaliate.
Following the order coming into play, China announced plans to impose taxes of 15 percent on coal and liquified natural gas from the US, as well as a 10 percent levy on crude oil, farming equipment, and some cars.
And on Tuesday (March 4), China announced imports of US-grown chicken, wheat, corn and cotton will see an extra 15 percent tariff, while the likes of sorghum, soybeans, pork, beef, seafoods, fruit, vegetables, and dairy products are seeing a 10 percent increase, as per AP.
The country has also placed ten further firms based in the US on its unreliable entity list, which essentially prohibits them from making new investments in China and from engaging in import and export activities.
Officials in Beijing have added 15 US-based companies to its export control list, with the ministry stating in a statement: “China has decided to include 15 US entities that endanger China’s national security and interests in the export control list, prohibiting the export of dual-use items to them.”
Speaking of the future, Sun Chenghao, who is an international relations professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said: “The US hopes to get a trade deal with China in the end. For the long term, it is possible that China and the US will continue to negotiate, but the current atmosphere is not good.”
