# Tags
#World News

CHINA RETALIATES WITH TARIFFS, ANTITRUST PROBE AGAINST GOOGLE, AND EXPORT CONTROLS ON CRITICAL MINERALS

China has announced retaliatory tariffs on select American imports and an antitrust investigation into Google, just minutes after a sweeping levy on Chinese products imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump took effect. The tariffs include a 15% levy on coal and liquefied natural gas products, as well as a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery, and large-engine cars imported from the U.S.

The State Council Tariff Commission stated that “the U.S.’s unilateral tariff increase seriously violates the rules of the World Trade Organization…it is not only unhelpful in solving its own problems, but also damages normal economic and trade cooperation between China and the U.S.”

China also announced export controls on several critical minerals, including tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, molybdenum, and indium, which are essential to U.S. economic or national security. Philip Luck, an economist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, noted that “they have a much more developed export control regime…we depend on them for a lot of critical minerals…they could put some significant harm on our economy.”

Additionally, China placed two American companies, PVH Group and Illumina, on an unreliable entities list, which could bar them from engaging in China-related import or export activities and from making new investments in the country. George Chen, managing director for The Asia Group, stated that “it’s almost like telling American companies, what your government is doing is bad, you need to tell the government that if you add more tariffs or hurt U.S.-China relations at the end of the day it’ll backfire on American companies.”

The move comes as Trump plans to talk with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the next few days, amidst an escalating trade war between the two countries. Analysts believe that China is better prepared this time, with a slew of measures that go beyond tariffs and cut across different sectors of the U.S. economy.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *