In the latest escalation of the Trade war between China and US, the two countries have imposed additional tariffs on each other’s goods, starting from Sunday, September 1st 2019.
A 15% tariff was imposed by the US on a variety of Chinese goods, among them clothing, footwear, smartwatches, Bluetooth speakers and flat-panel televisions, targeting goods worth more than $125 billion.
Hitting back, China imposed a 5% levy on US crude oil, the first time oil has been targeted in a trade war that has so far lasted for close to two years.
In addition to the crude oil, China started to impose additional tariffs on some of the U.S. goods on a $75 billion target list, although it did not specify the value of the goods that face higher tariffs from Sunday.
The extra tariffs of 5% and 10% were levied on 1,717 items of a total of 5,078 products originating from the United States. China will start collecting additional tariffs on the rest from December 15th 2019.
The US is also in the process of seeking opinions about a planned tariff increase to 30% on a $250 billion list of goods already hit with a 25% tariff, scheduled for 1st October 2019.
As much as traders in the US worry that prices will go up as sales will go down, the economists argue that the tariffs would not affect U.S. consumers that much because the Chinese currency dropped to 7 Yuan per dollar.
Writing on Twitter, US President Donald Trump said his goal was to reduce US reliance on China.
Trade teams from China and the United States continue to talk and will meet in September.
