Trump imposes $200 bn in new tariffs on Chinese goods

 Washington, September 18 

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday slapped 10 per cent tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports and the duties will rise to whopping 25% at the end of the year, triggering a strong response from Beijing which vowed to take “countermeasures”.

Escalating the trade war with the world’s second largest economy, Trump alleged that China had been unwilling to change its unfair trade practices.

He said the new additional tariff structure would give fair and reciprocal treatment to American companies. The tariffs on $200 billion worth of products comes on top of the $50 billion worth already taxed earlier this year. 

The next wave of tariffs, which are scheduled to go into effect on September 24, will start at 10 per cent before climbing to 25% on January 1.  The staggered increase will partially reduce the toll of price increases for holiday shoppers buying Chinese imports in the coming months. 

“Further, if China takes retaliatory action against our farmers or other industries, we will immediately pursue phase three, which is tariffs on approximately $267 billion of additional imports,” Trump warned. — AFP