China on Friday condemned fresh United States tariffs slapped on it and 59 other countries over alleged forced labour concerns, warning Washington against waging a trade war.
The new US levies range from 10 to 12.5 percent, with China hit with the highest rate.
“We oppose all forms of unilateral tariff measures,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a news briefing on Friday. “Tariff wars and trade wars are not in the interests of any party,” he warned.
The duties replace an expiring global tariff introduced by President Donald Trump earlier this year. The Trump administration has moved quickly to rebuild the president’s tariff wall after the Supreme Court in February struck down a range of his duties, weakening his ability to impose steep levies at will.
Announcing the measures, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Washington was “rigorously” enforcing a forced labour import ban and that it was “well past time for our trading partners to do the same”.
Countries that have adopted a forced labour prohibition, among them Canada, the European Union and the United Kingdom, were given the lower 10-percent rate, while other major trade partners including India and Japan were hit with the higher 12.5-percent tariffs.
China and the United States, which spent much of last year locked in an escalating trade war, reached a truce when Trump and President Xi Jinping met last October. Following Trump’s visit to Beijing this year, China said it would work with Washington to reduce tariffs, but the latest levies now threaten to reignite trade tensions.
Source: Vanguard.
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