Five methods China is hitting again in opposition to US tariffs | EUROtoday
Business reporter, BBC News

The commerce struggle between the world’s two largest economies has escalated after China hit again in opposition to the introduction of tariffs by the US with measures of its personal.
Beijing has got down to goal particular American items with retaliatory taxes, amongst different measures, following the blanket 10% tariff launched by President Donald Trump on all Chinese imports to the US.
In some methods, this newest tit-for-tat is nothing new and builds on the long-running commerce dispute between the nations, with tariffs having already been imposed and threatened on varied items since 2018.
Trump has mentioned he plans to talk to Chinese President Xi Jinping, so a deal may but be struck. But if China proceeds with its response on 10 February as deliberate, what may the affect be?
Coal, oil and gasoline

Part of China’s countermeasures to Trump’s tariffs is to announce import taxes of its personal on US coal and liquefied pure gasoline (LNG) of 10%, and a 15% cost on crude oil.
The response from Beijing means firms desirous to import fossil fuels from the US must pay the tax so as to take action.
China is the world’s largest importer of coal, nevertheless it will get most of it from Indonesia, though Russia, Australia and Mongolia are additionally amongst its suppliers.
When it involves the US, China has been rising imports of LNG from the nation, with volumes almost double 2018 ranges, in response to Chinese customs knowledge.
But its total fossil gas commerce is modest, with US imports accounting for simply 1.7% of China’s complete crude oil purchased from overseas in 2023. This suggests China is just not depending on the US and so the affect of the tariffs on its economic system could possibly be minimal.
Rebecca Harding, a commerce economist and chief govt of the Centre for Economic Security suppose tank, mentioned China may simply supply extra provides from Russia, the place it has already been shopping for oil on a budget because the Kremlin seeks to fund its struggle effort.
On the flipside, the US is the world’s largest LNG exporter, and so has loads of different prospects, notably the UK and the European Union.
Agricultural equipment, pick-up vans and large vehicles
As nicely as gas, China has slapped a ten% tariff on agricultural equipment, pick-up vans, and a few massive vehicles.
But China is just not an enormous importer of US pick-ups and it will get most of its vehicles from Europe and Japan, so a ten% tariff on an already small variety of imports wouldn’t hit customers too arduous.
In latest years, China has elevated investments in farm equipment to boost manufacturing and cut back reliance on imports, and to strengthen its meals safety.
So the introduction of tariffs on agricultural equipment could be one other transfer to attempt to enhance home trade.
Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China economics at consultancy Capital Economics, mentioned all of the tariff measures had been “fairly modest, at least relative to US moves”.
He means that China’s focused items characterize about $20bn (£16bn) price of annual imports – round 12% of China’s complete imports from the US.
“This is a far cry from the more than $450bn worth of Chinese goods being targeted by the US.”
But he mentioned China had “clearly been calibrated to try to send a message to the US [and domestic audiences] without inflicting too much damage”.
Google probe
The Chinese authorities have additionally introduced some non-tariff measures, considered one of which is an anti-monopoly investigation into US tech large Google.
It is unclear what the investigation will contain, however for context, Google’s search companies have been blocked in China since 2010.
The firm nonetheless has some enterprise presence within the nation by way of offering apps and video games to the Chinese markets by working with native builders.
But China solely generates about 1% of Google’s world gross sales, which suggests if it minimize ties completely with the nation, it would not be a lot worse off.
Calvin Klein added to ‘unreliable entities’ checklist

China has added PVH, the American firm that owns designer manufacturers Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, to its so-called “unreliable entity” checklist and accused them of “discriminatory measures against Chinese enterprises”.
The checklist, which has different US companies on it, was created in 2020 by Beijing amid the heating up of commerce tensions.
For Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, being on China’s checklist will make it tougher to do enterprise within the nation. They could face sanctions, together with fines, and having the work visas of their international workers revoked.
Regulators may even go to factories of the companies to analyze operations, in response to Andreas Schotter, professor of worldwide enterprise at Western University in Ontario, Canada.
The US has its personal “entity list”, which bars sure organisations from shopping for merchandise from US firms with out approval from Washington.
“China is hitting back in the same way President Trump is accusing Chinese companies. This is all part of the US driven de-coupling of the US and China,” Prof Schotter added.
Export controls on uncommon metals
While tariffs have been positioned on the businesses desirous to import items from overseas, China has additionally imposed export controls on 25 uncommon metals.
Some of the metals are key parts for a lot of electrical merchandise and navy gear.
China has mastered the flexibility to refine such metals, and produced virtually 90% of world refined output.
The restricted checklist consists of tungsten, which is troublesome to supply and an important materials for the aerospace trade.
While there are restrictions on exports, Mr Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics, mentioned it was notable that the crucial metals China imports from the US, that are used to make high-end chips, semiconductor equipment, prescription drugs and aerospace gear weren’t focused in any measures.
The expertise of earlier rounds of restrictions suggests exports will drop sharply as firms scramble to get licences, a course of that takes a number of weeks.
When it involves the affect of the restrictions, it seems the US has a plan. On Monday, Trump mentioned he needed Ukraine to ensure the provision of extra uncommon earth metals in trade for $300bn of help in its combat in opposition to Russia.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czj31l4p7vzo