China has vowed to respond with countermeasures after Donald Trump imposed an extra tariff of 34 per cent on the country’s exports to the United States. But Beijing’s commerce ministry stopped short of announcing retaliatory tariffs in response to the move, which brings the tariff on Chinese goods above 50 per cent.
“China firmly opposes the move and will take resolute countermeasures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” the ministry said in a statement on Thursday morning.
“The so-called reciprocal tariffs have violated international trade rules and undermine the legitimate rights and interests of relevant parties, and are a typical act of unilateral bullying.”
The 34 per cent tariff announced on Wednesday comes on top of an additional tariff of 20 per cent Trump imposed on Chinese imports after he returned to the White House earlier this year. The 20 per cent tariff was in protest against what the US president claimed were inadequate efforts by Beijing to halt the export of chemicals used to produce the drug fentanyl.
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Market analysts on Thursday estimated the new effective tariff on Chinese goods entering the US as between 65 and 70 per cent. This includes an effective tariff of about 11 per cent imposed on China under Section 301 of the US trade law.
Trump has also ordered the abolition from May 2 of the “de minimis” exemption which means no import duties are imposed on packages with a value of below $800. This move is likely to have a major impact on Chinese ecommerce platforms such as Temu and Shein.
The US remains China’s biggest export market but its share has diminished in recent years as exports to southeast Asia and other parts of the Global South have grown. The steep new tariffs, which were at the top end of market expectations, will hit the Chinese economy as it struggles against weak domestic demand and poor consumer confidence.
Trump targeted a number of other Asian countries with the highest tariffs, slapping an extra 49 per cent on Cambodia, 46 per cent on Vietnam and 37 per cent on Thailand. Washington’s closest allies in the region, Japan and South Korea, were hit by 24 per cent and 26 per cent respectively. Trump also imposed a 32 per cent tariff on imports from Taiwan, a move the government on the self-governing island described as “extremely unreasonable”.
