China Hits Back With Tariffs On Soya, Cars, Planes

China on Wednesday announced plans to hit the United States with new tariffs of 25 percent on soybeans, aircraft, cars and other imports worth US$50 billion, hours after Washington unveiled its own target list.

The commerce ministry listed 106 products to be targeted and said a date for the implementation of the tariffs would be announced separately.

The new tariffs mark a significant escalation of the brewing trade war between the world's two largest economies – with the US$100 billion worth of goods cumulatively targeted representing about 17 percent of the US$580 billion in two-way trade last year.

Announcing the list, Deputy Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said that Beijing hopes both sides can work together in a constructive manner, "instead of acting in a willful way".

But Zhu said that China never gives in to outside pressure and that "pressure from the outside will only urge and encourage the Chinese people to work even harder" and to innovate and develop.

A third of US soya bean exports go to China, totalling US$14 billion last year, and the product comes from rural states that voted for President Donald Trump in the 2016 election.

The list also includes aircraft that weigh up to 45 tonnes. That excludes much heavier Boeing jetliners, leaving Beijing additional high-profile targets for possible future rounds of the conflict.

Other products on the list include American beef, whisky, passenger vehicles and industrial chemicals.

As the Trump administration has ramped up trade actions against China, policymakers in Beijing have emphasised they do not want a trade war but will not back down in the face of US pressure.

Companies and economists have expressed concern growing global economic activity might cool if other governments are prompted to raise their own import barriers.

The dispute "may compel countries to pick sides," said Weiliang Chang of Mizuho Bank in a report. (AFP, AP)

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