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Beijing on Friday seized the World Trade Organization (WTO) to challenge the entry into force of US tariffs of 25% on 34 billion Chinese imports, saying the Trump administration responsible for triggering "the the biggest trade war in economic history. "
China had promised" not to fire the first "but warned:" to defend the fundamental interests of the country and its people, "she will be forced to retaliate.
After announcing the immediate implementation of tariffs of 25% on an "equal" amount on some 540 US products, the Ministry of Commerce announced Friday the recourse to the WTO.
It does not not a new complaint but an addendum to that which had been filed by the Asian giant to challenge the imposition, last March, punitive 25% taxes on steel and 10% on the aluminum, said a source in Geneva.
The new US customs tariff, which came into effect on Friday, affects 818 Chinese products including automobiles, hard disks or aircraft components but saves popular products such as televisions and telephones.
A second batch of taxes about 16 billion imports will enter into force soon, said Donald Trump Thursday, referring to a period of "two weeks."
– "Buy Chinese" –
In total, it is 50 billion dollars of imports Chinese companies that will be affected by the US measures to compensate for what the Trump administration regards as the "theft" of intellectual property and technology by China.
The United States should not stop there since Donald Trump threatens to increase to 450 billion the value of Chinese products taxed, the vast majority of imports from the Asian giant (505.6 billion dollars in 2017)
Paradoxically, it was these same trade tensions that brought down the US trade deficit in May to 43.1 billion, its lowest level since October 2016 by boosting soybean exports to China (+89 , 6%) before this commodity is taxed.
For months, the prospect of a trade war, however, fears a stoppage of trade in goods across the planet, current engines of global growth.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, currently in Bulgaria, warned Friday that a "trade war is not benefiting anyone."
In the streets of Beijing, consumers were also worried about possible price increases consecutive to taxes on US products. However, they say they are in solidarity with the authorities.
"I will do my best to buy Chinese", thus testified to Mr. AFP Mr. Yang, customer of a supermarket.
On the American side, the federation of retailers claimed that several products sold to The United States could see its prices increase, "the students having to pay more for the mini-refrigerator which they will need at the university in the autumn".
– What consequences? –
This confrontation with Beijing is far from isolated. Since the beginning of the year, Donald Trump has increased the protectionist measures against its trading partners, causing exasperation and concern.
The White House also imposes since June 1 tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from Canada, the European Union, Mexico or Russia that brought the case to the WTO.
In the wake of these same countries, Moscow announced Friday the introduction of surcharges on a series of US products in response to tariff barriers on steel and aluminum
The majority of experts warn of the potential damage of such a policy, not only on the economy American economy but also on the world economy.
The imposition of reciprocal taxes "will weigh on the growth, the confidence (of the households) and the financial markets", reacted Friday the economists of Oxford Economics.
In recent weeks, American companies have warned that they could lay off, because they do not remain competitive or even go out of business.
These warnings left marble behind Donald Trump, who had swept the arguments Tuesday in a tweet. "The economy is probably doing much better than in the past, before we solve the problem of unfair trade agreements with each country," he said.
On the Chinese side, "the trade war will slow the growth of the Chinese GDP by 0.2 percentage point" in 2018, said an official of the Central Bank, however, judging the impact "limited."
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