The trade war between the US and China has begun. Beijing has imposed tariffs of between 15 and 25% on imports of 128 American goods, including pork, wine and fruit, worth about three billion dollars a year. This is the answer decided by the Asian giant to moves by US President Donald Trump, which last month imposed tariffs of 25% and 10% respectively on Chinese steel and aluminum.
The official announcement of the new measures, which take effect today, comes from a note from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, which urges Washington to withdraw its measures and restore normal trade relations between the two countries. The Beijing government was clear: "We don't want a tariff war, but we won't stand by while our economy is damaged."
Too bad Trump has no intention of backing down. “When a country loses billions of dollars in trade, trade wars are a good thing, and it will be easy for the United States to win this one,” tweeted the White House number one.
The American authorities have already announced a plan for a new set of duties on other Chinese products worth tens of billions of dollars, in response to what it calls "unfair trade practices" by China.
Obviously, the new initiative would trigger a further reaction from Beijing, fueling a protectionist spiral that would raise the alarm level on international markets.
