China retaliates with 34% tariffs on US goods

BEIJING: China on Friday announced a series of countermeasures against tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, including an additional 34 percent tariff on all U.S. goods and restrictions on the export of certain rare earths, deepening the trade war.

China’s Ministry of Finance said the additional tariffs would take effect on April 10. Trump announced on Wednesday that China would be hit with a 34 percent tariff, up from 20 percent it imposed earlier this year, bringing the total new tariffs to 54 percent.

Agricultural trade suffered another blow as Chinese customs imposed an immediate suspension on imports of poultry and boneless meat from grain exporter C&D (USA) Inc. as well as three U.S. firms.

Beijing also announced controls on exports of medium and heavy rare earths to the United States starting April 4, including samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium. “The Chinese government’s implementation of export controls on relevant items in accordance with the law is aimed at better protecting national security and interests and fulfilling international obligations such as non-proliferation,” the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.

It also added 16 U.S. entities to its export control list, which prohibits affected firms from exporting dual-use items. Another 11 U.S. firms were added to a list of “unreliable entities,” which allows Beijing to take punitive action against foreign entities.

The targeted firms include Skydio Inc. and BRINC Drones, which are involved in arms sales to democratically-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory. The Ministry of Commerce said the targeted companies seriously “undermine” China’s national sovereignty, security and development interests and will be barred from new investment, import and export activities in China.

It launched an anti-dumping investigation into imports of certain medical CT tubes from the United States and India, and also launched an industry competition investigation into imports of medical CT tubes.