China announced that it will impose tariffs on American pork, nuts, and fruit in response to Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminum. China also announced that it will impose tariffs on American beef, soybeans, cotton, and corn in response to Trump's proposed tariffs on over 1,300 Chinese products from flat-screen TVs to medical supplies.
Right now we can only guess what China will impose tariffs on in response to Trump's latest temper tantrum.
Trump called for additional tariffs on $100 billion in goods last night and China is prepared to go the distance.
China’s Commerce Ministry spokesman, Gao Feng, called the U.S. action “extremely mistaken” and unjustified, adding that the spat was a struggle between unilateralism and multilateralism. He also said no negotiations were likely in the current circumstances.
“The result of this behavior is to smash your own foot with a stone,” Gao told a news briefing in Beijing. “If the United States announces an additional $100 billion list of tariffs, China has already fully prepared, and will not hesitate to immediately make, a fierce counter strike”.
People who know better than I do have speculated that China's next response will target the American energy sector by imposing tariffs on shale oil and natural gas, but anything could happen.
Trump thinks he can bully the Chinese into backing down, but he's wrong. We need them for more than they need us. China has a population of nearly 1.4 billion and an emerging middle class that is already larger than the middle class in the United States. It's the largest consumer market in the world and Trump's actions threaten to cut off access to American business.
It's not a stretch to say that entire industries could shutter without access to overseas markets and China is the biggest one.