The exchange of blows between the United States and China takes its course



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On Friday, new 25% tariffs on Chinese and US products come into effect. Which products are affected to what extent is not so easy to identify.

Martin Lanz, Washington

  China, on the other hand, takes its revenge by politically removing the delicate agricultural products and energy of America in addition to tax. (Photo: Dan Koeck / Reuters)

China takes revenge by taxing more politically sensitive agricultural goods and energy sources from America. (Photo: Dan Koeck / Reuters)

In mid-June, the US government announced that it would take seriously on July 6 the trade dispute with China. China post-mortem has promised equivalent retaliation measures. Unless another miracle occurs, new 25% tariffs on goods from both countries will come into effect on Friday. A small complication arises for the Chinese because of the 12-hour time difference between Beijing and Washington. They must be careful not to accidentally put their rates in front of the Americans. Instead of the usual early in the day, at 00:01 hours, Chinese tariffs are not expected to come into effect until noon. China wants to prevent the rest of the world from being presented as an aggressor (instead of being a victim of Trump).

The new 25% import tax will ultimately affect products with a total annual value of $ 50 billion. be. Washington targets goods of "industrial technological importance" to punish China's unfair transactions with US intellectual property and technology. The United States would slow down the implementation of its "Made in China 2025" industrial policy strategy, with the United States making Chinese technologies difficult to access the US market. China, on the other hand, is avenging itself by taxing politically sensitive agricultural products and American sources of energy. His idea is to drive American farmers around a huge market, fueling America's opposition to Trump's aggressive trade policy.

However, what property is affected and how much is not so easy to distinguish. Targeted commercial values ​​of $ 50 billion each are just orders of magnitude. Starting Friday, US fares will increase from 25% to 818 product lines initially. The United States Trade Representative Office (USTR) estimates the commercial value of these product lines at $ 34 billion, but does not publish details. At a later date, US duties will be followed by 25% out of 284 other product lines that, according to the USTR, have a commercial value of $ 16 billion

Chad P. Bown, expert in international trade Peterson Institute for International Economics hardened to make the material more concrete. To this end, it was necessary to tax the lines of products by the USTR, which are eight-digit customs codes, and badign them the respective import value for the year 2017 from the statistics of the United States Commission for International Trade. For the total of 1,102 product lines, it records "only" $ 46.3 billion of imports from China, which will be affected by tariffs.

95% of them are intermediate goods and equipment goods, while customs duties on consumer goods are removed, said Bown. In doing so, the US government wants to stop American consumers from immediately feeling tariffs when they buy clothes or toys from China. For US products potentially affected by Chinese retaliation tariffs, Bown has a commercial value of $ 44.9 billion. More than a third of them, worth $ 17 billion, are agricultural products, including soy, sorghum and meat.

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