Image copyright Getty Images Image caption US pork products are among those affected by new tariffs imposed by China

The White House has criticised China after it imposed retaliatory tariffs against the US on a range of goods, including pork and wine.

Beijing put duties of up to 25% on 128 American imports following President Donald Trump's decision to slap taxes on imports of steel and aluminium.

China said the move was intended to safeguard its interests and balance losses caused by the new tariffs.

US stocks fell sharply and Asia traded generally lower, amid trade war fears.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 Index lost 2.2%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.9%.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 opened down about 1.5% on Tuesday but recovered a little to close 0.45% lower. The Shanghai Composite closed down even further, dropping 0.84%, although Hong Kong's Hang Seng bucked the trend, reversing earlier losses to finish up 0.29%.

The White House reacted angrily to China's move.

"Instead of targeting fairly traded US exports, China needs to stop its unfair trading practices which are harming US national security and distorting global markets," spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said.

She added; "China's subsidisation and continued overcapacity is the root cause of the steel crises,"

The back-and-forth reflects rising tensions between the US and China, which President Trump has described as an "economic enemy".

What is this fight about?

The US has taken two major steps on tariffs recently that have triggered tension with China, the first on steel and aluminium and the second on intellectual property.

The global steel and aluminium tariffs were announced on 8 March. The US is using national security laws to impose the tariffs, which it says are needed to protect US producers.

Certain allies such as Canada, Mexico and the European Union are in line for exemptions, pending talks.

Image copyright EPA Image caption Donald Trump has vowed to cut the US trade deficit with China

China has challenged the US use of national security laws and announced retaliatory tariffs on $3bn (£2.1bn) worth of US products.

Those tariffs went into effect on Monday, targeting US goods including frozen pork, nuts, fresh and dried fruit, ginseng and wine.

The US tariffs related to intellectual property are expected to be set out this week.

They stem from a US investigation into the alleged theft of intellectual property and Beijing's "Made in China 2025" programme, which the US says puts its firms at a disadvantage and unfairly pressures them to share technology, especially in fields such as robotics and telecommunications.

Up to $60bn in tariffs could be imposed on Chinese imports.

China's ambassador to the US, Cui Tiankai, warned Beijing would take counter-measures of "the same proportion".

Who will blink first?

By Stephen McDonell, BBC News, Hong Kong

China's theft of foreign intellectual property is what sparked all this in the first place, according to Washington. If international companies want to operate in China they must hand over their intellectual property for the privilege, thus delivering the likes of German high-speed rail technology into the hands of Chinese engineers.

Yet now that China's retaliatory tariffs have kicked in, there are also those sympathetic with that argument who are worried that launching a potential tariff war is not the way to fix the problem. Naturally others say China has been getting away with this for years and tough measures were needed in order to force change.

There is also the overall imbalance in US-China trade but a large Chinese surplus, of course, means it is potentially much more exposed during a trade war than America. For this reason Beijing will want to negotiate a way out of this escalating tariff showdown.

Its first set of tariffs are relatively mild but they come in response to the first round of US tariffs and a second has already been announced. There are plenty more American companies to be hit and other nations, especially those in Europe and Asia, could soon find themselves dragged into this conflict.

How have producers reacted?

American businesses caught up in the dispute have raised alarms, noting that China is a large market for certain goods, including pork, soya beans and aircraft.

For example, last year China was the third largest market for US pork, receiving about $1.1bn worth of products, according to the National Pork Producer Council.

"Any restriction on export markets is not a good development for US pork producers," Jim Monroe, a spokesman for the National Pork Producers Council, told the BBC.

US companies have said that while they share some of the Trump administration's concerns, they are worried that threatening tariffs is not the best way to resolve the problems.

"The direction of what the US government is doing, and that is to apply some pressure, use some leverage, to level the playing field is the right one, although I don't think tariffs is the best way to go," said William Zarit. chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China.

Mr Zarit told the BBC that members of his organisation, which represents more than 900 companies operating across China, including Intel, Dell, Honeywell and Coca-Cola, were encouraged to hear that top officials have started talking again.

"I think it shows that both sides want to solve this before it gets out of hand," he said. </s> SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China unveiled plans on Friday to impose tariffs on up to $3 billion of U.S. imports in retaliation against U.S. tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum products, as the world’s two largest economies stood on the brink of a trade war.

China was considering a 15 percent tariff on U.S. products including dried fruit, wine and steel pipes and a 25 percent tariff on pork products and recycled aluminum, the commerce ministry said in a statement on it website.

China has assembled a list of 128 U.S. products in total that could be targeted if the two countries are unable to reach an agreement on trade issues, the ministry added.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Thursday targeting up to $60 billion in Chinese goods with tariffs, but only after a 30-day consultation period that starts once a list is published.

Beijing’s disclosure of its planned retaliation to proposed tariffs on Chinese metal exports to the United States, served as a warning to Washington as both sides brandished their weapons while holding off from starting a full-blown trade war.

The commerce ministry said China would implement the measures in two stages: first the 15 percent tariff on 120 products including steel pipes and wine worth $977 million and later the higher 25 percent tariff on $1.99 billion of pork and aluminum.

“We intend to impose tariffs on certain U.S. imports to balance out the losses caused to Chinese interests by the U.S. tariffs on imported steel and aluminum,” the ministry said.

The ministry added it would take legal action under the framework of the World Trade Organization to maintain the stability of global trading rules. It added, however, it hoped it could resolve issues with the U.S. through dialogue. </s> President Donald Trump has decided to impose significant tariffs on Chinese goods, the latest leg in the ongoing tensions over trade between the two nations, according to published reports.

The Washington Post, quoting unnamed administration officials, reported that Trump is planning to announce a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese products.

Reuters reported that Trump's list of tariffs will contain 800 product categories, down from 1,300 previously. Reuters cited an unnamed administration official and an industry source familiar with the list.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin argued against imposing the tariffs at a White House meeting on Thursday but he was not expected to prevail, the official said, according to Reuters.

The Chinese government’s top diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi, said his country was prepared to respond if Trump went ahead with the tariffs.

The dispute between China and the U.S. has been escalating for months. In April, China raised import duties on a $3 billion list of U.S. pork, apples and other products. The move was seen by the U.S. as an attempt raise the gambit in the ongoing dispute with Washington over trade and industrial policy.

China in recent weeks has said that its actions are simply in rebuttal to U.S. tariff hikes, such as one imposed earlier this year on steel and aluminum. But that is just one facet of sprawling tensions with Washington, Europe and Japan over a state-led economic model they complain hampers market access and subsidizes exports in violation of Beijing’s free-trade commitments.

Companies are looking ahead to a bigger fight over Trump’s approval of higher duties in response to complaints that Beijing steals or pressures foreign companies to hand over technology.

Earlier this month, China warned that any U.S.-China trade agreements “will not take effect” if Trump’s threatened tariff hike on Chinese goods goes ahead.

China has threatened to retaliate by raising import duties on a $50 billion list of American goods including soybeans, small aircraft, whiskey, electric vehicles and orange juice. </s> A Chinese worker checks aluminium tapes at an aluminium production plant in Huaibei, east China's Anhui province in May 2017.

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration announced Tuesday it is moving forward with a 25 percent tariff on $16 billion in Chinese goods, further escalating a trade war with Beijing.

The new tariffs will take effect on Aug. 23 and will impact 279 product lines, down from the original 284 that were proposed on June 15, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said. Products to be impacted include electronics, plastics and railway freight cars.

The tariffs are the second round of duties that the U.S. has imposed on Chinese goods in a dispute over technology. An initial round of tariffs was placed on $34 billion of Chinese products on July 6.

More: South Carolina company blames tariffs on possible layoffs

More tariffs could be coming soon

President Donald Trump earlier proposed 10 percent tariffs on an additional $200 billion of Chinese imports. Last week, he instructed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to consider more than doubling those duties to 25 percent. Those tariffs could be levied in September, following a public comment period.

The latest round of tariffs comes during a breakdown of trade talks between the Trump administration and Beijing and amid a growing trade dispute that has rattled global markets.

In July, Beijing announced that it would slap an extra 25 percent duty on 545 products from the United States including soybeans, electric cars, orange juice, whiskey, salmon and cigars, in retaliation for Trump’s initial round of tariffs.

Last week, China’s Ministry of Finance it would place tariffs on an additional $60 billion of U.S. goods, including coffee, honey and industrial chemicals, if Trump goes through with the threat to place duties on an additional $200 billion in Chinese products.

The ministry accused the Trump administration of damaging the global economy.

More: Trump says 'vicious' China targeting U.S. farmers on trade, urges critics to 'be cool' </s> China slapped tariffs on up to $3 billion in U.S. exports over the weekend, escalating a trade spat between the world’s two largest economies.

Announced late Sunday, the tariffs will apply to 128 American products that Beijing had previously identified as potential targets for import taxes. The punitive measures went into effect on Monday, the Chinese government said.

Beijing says the tariffs are a response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from China and other countries. Last month, Trump invoked a provision of U.S. trade law to place a 25 percent tariff on foreign-made steel and 10 percent on aluminum to protect American “national economic and security.”

Then, on March 22, Trump announced his intention to impose around $60 billion in trade penalties on China for intellectual property theft.

Those sanctions, which are likely to hit Chinese aerospace, technology and machinery industries, will not take effect until after a 30-day public review period, according to the White House.

The Chinese tariffs announced Sunday will apply a 15 percent duty on 120 American products such as fruits, nuts and wine, and 25 percent on eight other products, including pork and recycled aluminum. Beijing expects the retaliatory measures to affect about $3 billion worth of goods, less than one percent of U.S. exports to China.

Since first announcing the metal tariffs last month, the White House has said it will give exceptions to several trading partners, including Canada, Mexico, South Korea and the European Union.

China has accused the Trump administration of violating global trade rules by invoking national security to place tariffs on Chinese goods, but not imports from other countries.

In a statement late Sunday, China’s Ministry of Commerce said that those exemptions “seriously violate” World Trade Organization rules against trade discrimination among member nations.

China’s official news agency, Xinhua, warned that Trump’s plan to impose additional punitive measures are a “self-defeating gamble.”

“Trump’s planned tariffs are not only going to hamper the United States’ economic well-being and continued progress, and burden its people with higher costs of living, but also pose a grave threat to the current global trading system,” Xinhua said, according to CNN.

Chinese trade practices have long been a sore spot for Trump, who has accused Beijing of undermining American producers through intellectual property theft and dumping cheap steel and other products in the U.S. market.

Trump said last month he intends to pressure Beijing to develop a plan that would reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China by $100 billion.

China reported a trade surplus of $275.8 billion with the United States last year — about two-thirds of its global total, according to CNBC.

Using its own metrics, the U.S. government reported a trade gap of $375.2 billion, the largest ever.

A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.

What do you think? Scroll down to comment below. </s> President Trump appeared to up the ante in his trade disputes with China today by signaling his willingness to impose more tariffs than previously announced.

As NPR's Scott Horsley reports, Trump is ratcheting up the tit-for-tat with China over trade by asking his trade representative to consider tariffs on another $100 billion worth of Chinese imports.



"Neither Trump nor Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer immediately ordered tariffs. But the bellicose rhetoric from the White House represents an escalation in the tense trade standoff. Earlier, Trump had suggested to an audience in West Virginia that an all-out trade war might be avoided. Trump said, 'In many respects, I think we're going to have a fantastic long-term relationship with China. But we have to get this straightened out. We have to have some balance.' Chinese tariffs on pork and nuts and a threat of tariffs on soybeans have already depressed farm prices in the US. Trump ordered his Agriculture Secretary to come up with a plan to protect U.S. farmers, though he did not say what that might involve."



As the Associated Press reports,



The latest escalation comes after the U.S. on Tuesday said it would impose 25 percent duties on $50 billion of imports from China, and China quickly retaliated by listing $50 billion of products that it could hit with its own 25 percent tariffs. The Chinese list Wednesday included soybeans, the biggest U.S. export to China, and aircraft up to 45 tons (41 metric tons) in weight. Also on the list were American beef, whiskey, passenger vehicles and industrial chemicals. Earlier in the week, Beijing announced separate import duties on $3 billion of U.S. goods in response to the Trump administration's duties on all steel and aluminum imports, including from China.



Trump made his announcement after U.S. markets had closed.

That announcement drew a quick rebuke from Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., who tweeted that the president is "threatening to light American agriculture on fire."

"Hopefully the President is just blowing off steam again but, if he's even half-serious, this is nuts," Sasse wrote.

The U.S. has a $375 billion dollar trade deficit with China. </s> The United States is expected to announce $50 billion in U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods on Friday, a decision President Donald Trump sanctioned on Thursday afternoon, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

The decision is in line with the president’s March directive to the U.S. Trade Representatives office to conduct a section 301 investigation into Chinese trade practices.

President Trump met with senior trade, economic, and national security advisers at the White House Thursday afternoon, CNBC reported earlier in the day, citing three sources familiar with the potential tariff announcement. That report predicted an estimated 800-900 Chinese products. That is down from the approximately 1,300 the U.S. Trade Representative suggested in April.

A White House official did not deny the possibility of a Friday tariff announcement. The White House did not list the meeting between Trump and the officials on a daily schedule of meetings, and the official said that they do not produce lists of attendees for private meetings.

The WSJ reported that the meeting involved unnamed senior officials from the White House, U.S. Trade Representative’s office, Treasury and Commerce departments, and national security officials.

USTR is expected to release the list of affected goods on Friday.

President Trump warned in March that the U.S. may choose to impose $50 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods, citing China’s unfair trading practices, intellectual property practices and forced transfer of technology. He charged USTR with conducting a section 301 investigation into the matter.

A USTR report cited in the initiation of the 301 investigation stated, “As the global economy has increased its dependence on information systems in recent years, cyber theft became one of China’s preferred methods of collecting commercial information because of its logistical advantages and plausible deniability.”

China threatened $50 billion in tariffs on the U.S. in retaliation to the proposed $50 billion in U.S. tariffs on China. President Trump shot back with a warning of up to an additional $100 billion in U.S. tariffs on China. Chinese President Xi Jinping seemed to relent to some extent in response, showing a willingness to lower Chinese tariffs on U.S. auto imports to their country.

The White House has said that Xi’s response is encouraging but that the U.S. would not relent in proposed tariffs until the Trump administration sees “concrete actions from China.” </s> WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump just imposed tariffs on hundreds of Chinese products — from X-ray tubes to incinerators. And Beijing is striking back by targeting U.S. soybeans, beef, seafood and other products.

The punch-and-counterpunch announced Friday in Washington and Beijing moved the world’s two largest economies perilously near a trade war that would inflate prices for consumers, disrupt the flow of goods and perhaps slow a global economy that has been enjoying its healthiest expansion in a decade.

“Everybody loses in a trade war,” says Philip Levy, senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and a former White House economic adviser. “You get consumers who are worse off. You get producers who are worse off, farmers who are worse off and you don’t even achieve your goal.”

What’s more, the China tariffs come just as the United States is sparring with close allies like the European Union, Canada and Mexico in a separate conflict over trade in steel and aluminum.

WHAT DID TRUMP DO?

The White House on Friday announced plans to slap 25 percent tariffs on more than 1,100 Chinese products, worth $50 billion a year in imports. The administration had originally proposed the tariffs in April, starting with a list of 1,333 Chinese products lines. After receiving public feedback, it removed 515 from the blacklist and added 284 others.

Starting July 6, the U.S. will tax the 818 products, worth $34 billion a year in imports, that remained from the original list. It won’t target the 284 additions, worth $16 billion, until after it collects public feedback.

Beijing immediately said it would retaliate with penalties of the same scale on American goods — and it spelled out details to impose tariffs on 545 U.S. exports, including farm products, autos and seafood.

“The Chinese side doesn’t want to fight a trade war, but facing the shortsightedness of the U.S. side, China has to fight back strongly,” the Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement. “We will immediately introduce the same scale and equal taxation measures, and all economic and trade achievements reached by the two sides will be invalidated.”

American soybean farmers, who send about 60 percent of their exports China, are especially worried about Beijing’s retaliation. Soybean prices were already falling before Friday’s announcement.

Prices will likely drop further should the tariffs be imposed,” says Bill Shipley, president of the Iowa Soybean Association. “This will further pressure agricultural families and businesses already struggling with below break-even commodity prices.”

HOW WILL CONSUMERS AND BUSINESSES BE AFFECTED?

Tariffs are a tax. So they drive up the price of targeted imports. The reduced foreign competition means that domestic producers can raise their prices, too.

The Trump administration has sought to protect consumers from a direct impact from the tariffs. The tariffs target mainly Chinese industrial machinery, aerospace parts and communications technology; they spare such consumer goods as smartphones, toys and clothes that Americans purchase by the truckload from China. Televisions and pharmaceuticals were removed from the original tariff list.

Still, these tariffs will impose higher costs on U.S. companies that use the equipment. And over time, those costs could be passed on to consumers. The impact won’t be as visible as it would be if consumer products were taxed directly.

By contrast, the Trump administration earlier this year imposed steep tariffs on imported washing machines. By May, the cost of laundry equipment had jumped 17 percent from two months earlier, according to government data.

The United States accuses China of using predatory tactics in a breakneck effort to supplant American technological supremacy. Among these are outright cyber-theft. Beijing forces U.S. and other foreign companies to hand over technology as a price of admission to the vast Chinese market. And it uses Chinese government money to outbid private companies for U.S. technology at above-market prices.

U.S. officials say they fear that Beijing’s long-range development strategy, dubbed “Made in China 2025,” will hamper competition and hurt American competitors. It calls for creating Chinese global competitors in such areas as information technology, robotics, aerospace equipment, maritime engineering equipment, electric vehicles, biopharmaceuticals and medical devices.

Foreign business groups have complained for a decade that Beijing is squeezing them out of promising economic fields. They say “Made in China 2025” appears to leave them little or no place in those industries.

But it isn’t always clear whether the United States is seeking to curb China’s sharp-elbowed practices or to keep it from emerging as a legitimate rival.

HAVEN’T THE 2 NATIONS TRIED TO WORK THINGS OUT?

Yes. And for a time last month it looked as if they’d reached a truce. After a meeting in Washington, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin declared the trade war “on hold” and the tariffs suspended. Mnuchin said so after China pledged to buy more from the U.S., especially energy and agricultural products and to shrink America’s gaping trade gap with China — $336 billion last year. But critics dismissed that agreement as vague. And Trump backed away and returned to the tariff threat.

Erin Ennis of the U.S.-China Business Council says she suspects Beijing will wait to see whether the United States actually puts the U.S. tariffs into effect July 6 before it starts taxing U.S. goods. That could buy time for last-ditch negotiations.

ISN’T THE U.S. TIED UP IN OTHER TRADE DISPUTES?

Oh, yes. Trump just enraged the EU, Canada and Mexico by imposing tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. Worse, he argued that the imported metals posed a threat to U.S. national security — an insult to the longstanding American allies that they roundly rejected. He has also threatened to tax auto imports, also on national security grounds.

Critics say Trump’s decision to pick fights with America’s friends weakens his hand against China.

Trade analysts say it would be wiser for the United States to enlist its allies to challenge China’s drive to grab technology, rather than go it alone with unilateral tariffs. After all, companies from the advanced economies of the U.S., Europe and Japan share the same gripes.

China is adept at playing countries and companies off against one another, Jennifer Hillman, a Georgetown University law professor, testified last week before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Commission. If one complains, China can lock it out of the market and do business with a more compliant competitor. Better to present a united front.

AP Writers Christopher Rugaber in Washington, Alexandra Olson in New York and Joe McDonald in Beijing and video journalist Teresa Crawford in Chicago contributed to this report.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> A Chinese worker checks aluminium tapes at an aluminium production plant in Huaibei, east China's Anhui province in May 2017.

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration announced Tuesday it is moving forward with a 25 percent tariff on $16 billion in Chinese goods, further escalating a trade war with Beijing.

The new tariffs will take effect on Aug. 23 and will impact 279 product lines, down from the original 284 that were proposed on June 15, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said. Products to be impacted include electronics, plastics and railway freight cars.

The tariffs are the second round of duties that the U.S. has imposed on Chinese goods in a dispute over technology. An initial round of tariffs was placed on $34 billion of Chinese products on July 6.

More tariffs could be coming soon

President Donald Trump earlier proposed 10 percent tariffs on an additional $200 billion of Chinese imports. Last week, he instructed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to consider more than doubling those duties to 25 percent. Those tariffs could be levied in September, following a public comment period.

The latest round of tariffs comes during a breakdown of trade talks between the Trump administration and Beijing and amid a growing trade dispute that has rattled global markets.

In July, Beijing announced that it would slap an extra 25 percent duty on 545 products from the United States including soybeans, electric cars, orange juice, whiskey, salmon and cigars, in retaliation for Trump’s initial round of tariffs.

Last week, China’s Ministry of Finance it would place tariffs on an additional $60 billion of U.S. goods, including coffee, honey and industrial chemicals, if Trump goes through with the threat to place duties on an additional $200 billion in Chinese products.

The ministry accused the Trump administration of damaging the global economy.

More: Trump says 'vicious' China targeting U.S. farmers on trade, urges critics to 'be cool'
The White House criticizes China's decision to place tariffs of up to 25% on 128 U.S. imports including pork and wine which was in retaliation to U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to introduce tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminium imports.