Negotiations and new scenarios: Beijing's countermeasures to tariffs
China’s Ministry of Commerce accuses Washington of "unilateral bullying" but keeps channels of communication open. Beijing had already launched stimulus measures for domestic consumption, expecting lower exports, but now it will also have to deal with the fallout from the heavy tariffs imposed on Southeast Asia. The chances for free trade area with Japan and South Korea have improved.
Beijing (AsiaNews) – China “firmly opposes” new US tariffs on its exports, promising “countermeasures”, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.
Yesterday, US President Donald Trump announced that he was imposing 34 per cent tariffs on China that would come into effect on 9 April along with other measures against dozens of countries around the world.
For China, the United States was engaged in its “typical unilateral bullying practice”. Tariffs “do not comply with international trade rules and seriously harm the legitimate rights and interests of the relevant parties”.
Beijing urges Washington to “immediately cancel” the tariffs, warning that they “endanger global economic development”, including US interests and international supply chains.
China’s Ministry of Commerce notes, nevertheless, that the two sides are still "keeping communication open" in trade and economic issues, stressing the broad international opposition to the measures.
When the US imposed its first targeted tariffs of 20 per cent last month, China responded by imposing levies of up to 15 per cent on a series of American agricultural products, including soybeans, pork and chicken.
For analysts, this was a restrained response but one that could be followed by tougher countermeasures, aimed in particular at exports of critical minerals and rare earths, essential raw materials for electronic devices and the digital economy.
From Beijing's perspective, the tariffs are a further threat to China's fragile economic recovery, which is grappling with a protracted debt crisis in the property sector and low domestic consumption.
Trump's measures, however, were not unexpected. During the discussions of economic programmes at the Two Sessions,[*] Chinese authorities had announced steps to boost domestic consumption, in light of lower exports.
Perhaps what surprised Beijing the most is the size of the tariffs Trump inflicted on other Southeast Asian countries, most notably Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, which indirectly affect the People's Republic.
With this measure, in fact, Washington wants to close the door to outsourcing by which China has reorganised its supply chains to get around tariffs Trump imposed in his first term.
It is no coincidence that among the 10 countries and territories affected with the highest tariffs announced yesterday five are Asian. For China, this will also be a time to take into account disgruntled foreign governments who now fear being further swamped by surplus Chinese goods, to the detriment of their own manufacturers.
Still, tariffs could also push China to reach out to other countries on the continent subjected to tariffs. Some economic talks were already held recently with South Korea and Japan, the first in five years.
The three East Asian countries agreed to speed up negotiations on a free trade agreement, first proposed over a decade ago. The new tariffs could give them an additional incentive to do so.
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[*] Two sessions refer to annual plenary sessions of the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
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