China faced President Donald Trump’s comprehensive tariff for Chinese products with a customs tariff for US imports chosen on Tuesday, as well as announcing an investigation to combat monopoly in Google and other commercial measures.
The American customs tariff for products from Canada and Mexico was also appointed on Tuesday before Trump agreed to a temporary stop for 30 days, as the two countries spent to increase his concerns about border security and drug trafficking. Trump plans to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the next few days.
John Gong, a professor at the University of Business and International Economy in Beijing, said the Chinese response was “measured.” “I don’t think they want to escalate the trade war,” he said. “They see this example from Canada and Mexico and they may hope for the same thing.”
This is not the first round of procedures that reach the two countries. China and the United States participated in a trade war in 2018 when Trump raised the customs tariff on Chinese goods, and China somewhat responded.
Analysts said this time, that China is much better for confrontation, as the government announced a large number of measures that have been cut through the various economies sectors, from energy to American companies.
China said it would carry out a 15 % tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas products in addition to a 10 % tariff on crude oil, agricultural machines, cars with large engines imported from the United States, will provide customs duties next Monday.
“Increasing the US tariff from one side violates the rules of the World Trade Organization,” the State Council tariffs committee said in a statement. “It is not only not useful in solving its own problems, but it also harms the natural economic and commercial cooperation between China and the United States.”
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The effect on American exports may be limited. Although the United States is the largest source of liquid natural gas in the world, it does not export much to China. In 2023, the United States exported 173,247 million cubic feet of LNG to China, which represents about 2.3 % of total natural gas exports, according to the US Energy Information Department.
Bill Rousseau, the founder of the Ltd. in Shanghai, said that China imported only about 700,000 cars last year, and it would be the main importers from Europe and Japan.
More controls for export on critical minerals
China has announced export controls on several important elements to produce modern high -tech products.
It includes tungsten, telorium, hemottot, molybdenum and Andium, many of which have been assigned as critical minerals by the American geological survey, which means that they are necessary for American economic or national security that undertake the display chains exposed to the turmoil.
Export controls in addition to those set by China in December on the main elements such as Galium.
“They have a more sophisticated system to combat export,” said Philip Lak, an economic expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the former Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He said: “We rely on them on many critical minerals: gallium, germanium, graphite, a group of others.” “Thus … they can put some great harm to our economy.”
Stephen Dover, chief strategic expert in the market and head of the Franklin Timbelton Institute, a financial research company, said the response from China appears to be calculated and measured. However, he said that the world is preparing for more influence.
“The risk is that this is the beginning of a dream war warfare, which may lead to a decrease in GDP growth everywhere, high inflation in the United States, and the most powerful pressure on interest rates in the United States,” Dover said.
American companies also affected
In addition, the Chinese state administration to organize the market said on Tuesday that it was investigating Google on suspicion of violating the anti -monopoly laws. This advertisement did not mention the definitions, but it came just minutes after the Trump tariff by 10 % on China.
It is not clear how the investigation will affect Google. Gong said that the company has long faced complaints from Chinese smart phone makers because of its Android operating system.
Otherwise, Google has a limited presence in China, and its search engine in the country is prohibited like most other western platforms. Google came out of the Chinese market in 2010 after refusing to comply with the censorship requests from the Chinese government and follow a series of electronic attacks on the company.
Google did not immediately comment.
The Ministry of Commerce has also placed two American companies on the list of unreliable entities: PVH Group, which owns Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, and Illumina, a biotechnology company with offices in China. The list can prevent them from engaging in import or export activities related to China and from making new investments in the country.
Beijing began investigating the PVH group in September last year due to the “incorrect behavior associated with Xinjiang” after the company boycotted the use of Xinjiang Cotton.
Putting these us Companies on the Unreilable Entites List Is “Alarming” BecUSE IT Shows that The Chinese Godnment is Using The List to Pressure US Companies to Take a Side, SAID George Chen, Aging Director for the Asia Group, A Washington DC-Headquarted Business Politics Consulting.
“It is like telling American companies, what your government is doing is bad, you have to tell the government that if you add more customs tariffs or hurt relations between the United States of China at the end of the day, it will lead to reverse results on American companies,” he said.
Wu mentioned from Bangkok. AP Zen Soo’s book in Hong Kong and Christopher Bodin in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.
