China Threatens to Impose $60 Billion in Tariffs on US Goods

TEHRAN (Defapress)- China's Finance Ministry said on Friday Beijing would impose tariff rates ranging from 5 to 25 percent on 5,207 goods imported from the United States.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a separate statement that the implementation date of the levies would depend on Washington's behavior, adding that "the US side has repeatedly escalated the situation against the interests of both enterprises and consumers".

"China has to take necessary countermeasures to defend its dignity and the interests of its people, free trade and the multilateral system," it noted.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer stated on Wednesday that President Donald Trump offered him to consider imposing a 25-percent tariff rate instead of a 10-percent one on $200 billion worth of the imported Chinese goods and services. According to Lighthizer, the increase in the rates should encourage Beijing to change the country's unfair trade.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily news briefing on Wednesday that if the United States takes further steps to hinder trade, Beijing will retaliate.

"China's position remains clear and unchanged: blackmail and US pressure against the PRC will never work," the diplomat said, adding that "if the US takes action to further escalate the situation, China will undoubtedly take the necessary countermeasures to protect its legitimate rights and interests".

Shuang stated on Tursday that Beijing urges the United States to be sensible in waging the trade war and demands that the United States stop blackmailing China with threats to further raise the tariffs on the imported Chinese goods.

"First of all, we're appealing to the US side to change their stand and not to practice blackmailing, it is useless against China. Secondly, we are calling on the US side to use their common sense again, you should not always act impulsively, after all you may end up hurting but yourself," Geng noted.

He also stressed that Beijing was always ready to deal with the situation at the negotiating table.

The trade war between China and the United States escalated in June, when Trump said that Washington would introduce a 25-percent tariff on $50 billion worth of goods imported from China with Beijing immediately lashing back at Washington and imposing reciprocal tariffs. The United States imposed 25-percent duties on $34 billion of imports from China in early July.

Beijing, for its part, announced that its tit-for-tat duties had taken effect on $34 billion of US goods that included soybeans and electric vehicles. China warned the US that it would have no choice but to take “necessary countermeasures” against Washington.

Even before his presidency, Trump criticized the fact that the import from China largely exceeded the US export, which resulted in a huge trade deficit for Washington amounting to $375 billion in 2017. In May 2018, the White House issued a statement where the United States accused China of "unfair trade practices", including dumping and higher tariffs on the goods exported from the United States than the tariffs Washington levied on the Chinese goods.

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