Customs dispute between the United States and China becomes a trade war | TIME ONLINE

Beijing (dpa) – After a further escalation in the trade dispute between the United States and China the world is endemic for a trade war.

"For the moment, it looks like a global trade war," said tranatural coordinator of the German government Peter Beyer (CDU), the newspapers of the Funke press group.

On Friday, escalating trade conflict between the United States [194559005] and China with reciprocal punitive tariffs has intensified for months. The confrontation between the two largest economies raises concerns about the long-term consequences for the global economy and other countries like Germany.

The President of the United States Donald Trump even threatened China with new punitive tariffs that could be extended to all its US imports worth more than $ 500 billion.

In the first round, at midnight, Washington, US special charges of 25% on imports from China, valued at 34 billion US dollars, came into effect. Chinese customs reacted immediately with its own special tariffs on imports from the United States to the same extent. China is forced to take a "necessary counterattack", said a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing . The United States had inaugurated "the greatest commercial war of economic history".

Meanwhile, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has lodged a formal complaint with the World Trade Organization against the United States. Beijing sees the rules of the organization hurt. China follows the example of the European Union and Canada. Meanwhile, the United States is blocking important WTO rulings, including the replacement of arbitration courts, according to media reports.

China's punitive tariffs affect agricultural products such as soybeans, fish, pork, beef and dairy products. China is targeting Trump's electorate in rural areas. Higher rates are also levied on cars. This mainly concerns German automakers such as Daimler and BMW, which also supply the largest car market in China from their factories in the United States.

Daimler has already warned about profits. Almost every fifth BMW sold in China comes from the United States. Beyer expects Trump to impose punitive tariffs on EU cars, presumably before the legislative elections in the US on November 8th. The main affected would be Germany.

According to Chinese sources, currently imposed tariffs are filled by 59% of foreign-invested enterprises in China. US companies in China have also criticized punitive tariffs as "counterproductive". "There are no winners in a trade war," said William Zarit, president of the US Chamber of Commerce.

Economists fear that the conflict between China and the United States will become an uncontrollable trade war. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that the trade volumes affected, at least for the moment, are too small for them alone to cause major problems for the economy. World. However, the effects are feared by the uncertainty of the markets and an escalating spiral of escalation.

Beyond the manageable short-term consequences, long-term threat "more mischief", because the global production chains of companies could break, writes the Commerzbank. "Then multinational companies should write off some of their international production facilities and expand their domestic production facilities at high costs," they warned. "This would result in lower profits and cost reduction programs, which would weigh heavily on workers."

With a trade deficit of more than US $ 800 billion, Trump is campaigning on several fronts without adhering to WTO rules. He also denounced the neighbors of Canada and Mexico as well as allies such as the European Union countries with punitive tariffs on steel and aluminum under the assurances that he wanted to guarantee the national security of his country.

Trump's actions are not only heavily criticized by US companies in China, but also in Germany. Parts of Trump's own Republican Party see hidden taxes in the tariffs. Critics believe that part of Trump's tax reform celebrated in the business community can be neutralized.

US retaliatory industries are in a state of excitement. This is especially true for farmers. China, Canada and Mexico, for example, are demanding higher tariffs on pork products, and the EU has imposed retaliatory duties on whiskey.

Chinese Ministry of Commerce, Chinese

Xinhua comment

Ministry of Commerce on Xinhua