Economy

China Retaliates Against Trump’s First Round of Tariffs

Written by SK Ashby

China has announced retaliatory measures against Trump's tariffs, but this should not be confused with the list of unknown tariffs the Trump regime will impose at some point in the next few months.

Although Trump has quietly canceled his tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from most of our closet allies and trading partners, China was not among them. These new tariffs on American goods are a response to that.

From CNBC:

China's Customs Tariff Commission is increasing the tariff rate on pork products and aluminum scrap by 25 percent. It's also imposing a new 15 percent tariff on 120 other imported U.S. commodities, from almonds to apples and berries.

All told, the extra tariffs will hit 128 kinds of U.S. products, multiple outlets reported. The list of new duties matches the proposed list released by the government on March 23, according to Reuters.

At that time, China said the affected U.S. goods had an import value of $3 billion in 2017 and included wine, fresh fruit, dried fruit and nuts, steel pipes, modified ethanol and ginseng.

You can find a complete list of all 128 products China will impose tariffs on here.

After reviewing the list, I'd say you shouldn't be surprised if the price of nuts ticks downward at your local grocery store because American producers are going to have extra supply they need to get rid of in a hurry.

The list of 128 products also includes dozens of steel products manufactured in America including numerous pipes used for oil and gas drilling.

The most potent tariff on the list is the 25 percent tariff on virtually all pork products from heads to butts.

If China is willing to go this far to retaliate against Trump's tariffs on metals, I can't even guess how they will retaliate when Trump imposes more (bigger) tariffs this summer.