Another set of tit-for-tat tariffs imposed by the United States and China on each other’s goods took effect Monday.
A new round of U.S. imposed duties on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, and a retaliatory set of tariffs imposed by Beijing on $60 billion worth of U.S. goods, took effect at 12:01 a.m. Washington time.
The new U.S. duties covers thousands of Chinese-made products, including electronics, food, tools and housewares. The new tariffs begin at 10 percent, then will rise to 25 percent on January 1, 2019. The Trump administration exempted numerous other items from the new tariffs, including smart watches, Bluetooth devices, and infant car seats.
In an interview with Fox News Sunday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo promised the United States will be victorious in any trade war with China. “We are going to get an outcome which forces China to behave in a way that if you want to be a power, a global power … you do not steal intellectual property,” Pompeo said.
But in a policy statement issued just hours after the dual tariffs took effect, Beijing accused Washington of using tariffs as a means of intimidating other countries to submit to U.S. wishes on economic matters.
The Trump administration has argued tariffs on Chinese goods would force China to trade on more favorable terms with the United States.
It has demanded that China better protect American intellectual property, including ending the practice of cyber theft. The Trump administration has also called on China to allow U.S. companies greater access to Chinese markets and to cut its U.S. trade surplus.
The U.S. has already imposed tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods, and China has retaliated on an equal amount on U.S. goods.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump threatened more tariffs on Chinese goods — another $267 billion worth of duties that would cover virtually all the goods China imports to the United States.
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