Donald Trump escalated his trade war with China on Monday, imposing 10% tariffs on about£152.14 billion worth of Chinese imports, but sparing smart watches from Apple and Fitbit and other consumer products such as bicycle helmets and baby car seats.
In a statement, Trump announced the new round of tariffs, warned that if China takes retaliatory action against US farmers or industries, “we will immediately pursue phase three, which is tariffs on approximately $267 billion of additional imports.”
The iPhone was not among the ‘wide range’ of products that Apple told regulators would be hit by the $200 billion round of tariffs in a 5 September comment letter to trade officials.
But if the Trump administration enacts a further round of tariffs on $267 billion in goods, engulfing all remaining US imports from China, the iPhone and its competitors would not likely be spared.
Collection of tariffs on the long-anticipated list will start 24 September but the rate will increase to 25% by the end of 2018, allowing US companies some time to adjust their supply chains to alternate countries, a senior administration official said.
So far, the United States has imposed tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese products to pressure China to make sweeping changes to its trade, technology transfer and high-tech industrial subsidy policies. Beijing has retaliated.
The escalation of Trump’s tariffs on China comes after talks between the world’s two largest economies to resolve their trade differences produced no results. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin last week invited top Chinese officials to a new round of talks, but thus far nothing has been scheduled.
“We have been very clear about the type of changes that need to be made, and we have given China every opportunity to treat us more fairly,” Trump said in his statement. “But, so far, China has been unwilling to change its practices.”
Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of China’s securities regulator, told a forum in the Chinese port city of Tianjin on Tuesday that he hopes the two sides can sit down and talk, but added that the latest US move has “poisoned” the atmosphere for negotiations.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is set to convene a meeting in Beijing on Tuesday morning to discuss the government’s response to the US decision, Bloomberg News reported, citing a person briefed on the matter.
A senior Trump administration official told reporters that the United States was open to further talks with Beijing, but offered no immediate details on when any new meetings may occur.
“This is not an effort to constrain China, but this is an effort to work with China and say, ‘It’s time you address these unfair trade practices that we’ve identified that others have identified and that have harmed the entire trading system,’” the official said.
China has vowed to retaliate further against any new US tariffs, with state-run media arguing for an aggressive “counterattack.”
China’s yuan currency slipped 0.3% against the US dollar in Asian trade on Tuesday. It has weakened by about 6.0% since mid-June, offsetting the 10% tariff rate by a considerable margin.Trump,