China hikes tariffs on US goods to 125 per cent; Xi calls on EU to resist Trump bullying

BEIJING: China on Friday hit back at the latest US tariffs by imposing 125 per cent tariffs on imports of all US goods.

Chinese official Xinhua agency cited the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council to state that it will lift the additional tariffs on products imported from the US to 125 per cent from 84 per cent, effective from April 12.

China has also filed lawsuit with WTO following the latest US tariff hikes, the Chinese commerce ministry said as per a report in the official Xinhua Agency.

Also in his first public remarks on US-China trade war, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday said, “There is no winner in a tariff war, and going against the world will only result in self-isolation”. He made the remarks during his meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Beijing today according to Xinhua.

Xi further called on China and the EU to fulfill their international responsibilities, work together to safeguard economic globalization and the international trading environment, and jointly resist unilateral bullying.

The Chinese Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council today said that given that there is no longer any possibility of market acceptance for US goods exported to China under the current tariff levels, if the US side subsequently continues to impose tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the US, the Chinese side will not respond to any further tariffs imposed by the United States.

“Even if the US imposes even higher tariffs, it would no longer make economic sense and ultimately go down as a joke in world economic history,” according to the commission as reported in the Chinese state media.

The current US tariffs on Chinese imports include a 145 per cent duty on all products imported from China, according to the White House.

China said that the “excessively high tariffs” imposed by US President Donald Trump “seriously violates international economic and trade rules, goes against basic economic laws and common sense, and is nothing but unilateral bullying and coercion.”

However, should the US persist in substantially undermining China’s interests, China will take firm countermeasures and fight to the end, the commission added.

On April 10, Trump paused most of the tariffs for 90 days but for China the tariffs were hiked to 145 per cent.

Trump blamed Beijing’s retaliatory actions—including hiking the tariff rate to 84 per cent — and announced an immediate increase in US tariffs on Chinese imports to 125 per cent, on top of the 20 per cent rate the president had previously imposed on China —bringing the total tariff to 145 per cent. (ANI)