Tariff Trade War: China Vows to Strike Back at US

This week, the United States President, Donald Trump, made changes on trade tariffs, causing many businesses, organisations and countries to make changes on their already proposed financial plans.

Fear has gripped investors across the world as the tariff trade war threaten to plunge the global and US economies into a recession. This also triggers the British-made vehicles company, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to halt all shipments of its product to the U.S. for a month 

According to the wire report, the U.S. is the second-largest importer of the JLR vehicles after the European Union. The company sells about 400,000 Defenders, Range Rover Sports and other models each year, with U.S. exports making up to about a quarter of the company’s sales. 

“As we work to address the new trading terms with our business partners, we are taking some short-term actions, including a shipment pause in April, as we develop our mid- to longer-term plans,” the company said.

In Donald Trump’s latest tariff plan which he unveiled on April 2, he imposed a 25% tariff on imported cars and trucks, which took effect immediately on the next day. During his announcement he also said the U.S. will charge the EU a 20% tariff, compared to its 39% tariffs on the U.S., Japan to see 24% tariffs, compared to the 46% the country charges, while China will be hit with a 34% tariff, compared to the 67% it charges.

Trump 104% tariff on china

China has promised to take effective measures in order to safeguard its rights and interests after the US President, Donald Trump imposed an additional 50% on Wednesday tariff making a total of 104% tariffs on Chinese imports.

The U.S levies on Chinese imports had been set to increase by 34% on Wednesday as part of Trump’s reciprocal tariffs package. But the president tacked on another 50% after Beijing didn’t back down on its promise to impose a 34% retaliatory tariff back on US goods. 

“The United States is still imposing arbitrary tariffs on China and relentlessly applying extreme pressure. China firmly opposes and will never accept such domineering and bullying behavior,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a regular news conference.

Prior to the latest round of escalation, Donald Trump had already imposed a 20% levy on China since his return to the White House. 

Beijing has not announced immediate retaliatory measures against Trump’s latest round of levies. But so far, the message from the Chinese government, state media and opinion leaders alike has been one of defiance and determination to strike back the tariff.

TikTok ban update

Due to the newly announced tariffs, President Trump on Friday announced plans to postpone the enforcement of the TikTok sale-or-ban law for another 75 days. This was due to Trump’s newly announced tariffs, especially on China, which affect a deal that had been set to transfer control of the app’s US operations to American ownership.

With the deal, new and existing US TikTok investors, ByteDance and the Trump administration had all agreed to the deal, but that changed after Trump announced his additional 34% tariff on China leading to the representatives for ByteDance informing the White House on Thursday morning that China was pulling out of the deal until negotiations were held regarding the tariffs.

“My Administration has been working very hard on a Deal to SAVE TIKTOK, and we have made tremendous progress. The Deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed,” President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social. 

Trump and the White House team overseeing the deal ultimately decided on Friday to delay enforcement of the ban by another 75 days as it was unclear where the talks would go from here.

South Korea to hold presidential election

The acting President of South Korea, Han Duck-soo has announced 3 June as the date for the country’s presidential election after the country’s constitutional court removed Yoon Suk Yeol from presidency.

Han Duck-soo made the election announcement public on Tuesday, saying the country needs to “quickly heal from the wounds” and go “upward and forward”.

Some politicians including labour minister Kim Moon-soo, Ahn Cheol-soo a lawmaker from the ruling People Power Party, and opposition leader Lee Jae-myung have signalled their intention to run for president.

President Yoon was impeached by the parliament in December for his shock martial law declaration plunging South Korea deep into political uncertainty and highlighting deep divisions in its society.

The court upheld his impeachment on 4 April, paving the way for a snap election within the next 60 days.

MORE HIGHLIGHTS

• European Union backed its first countermeasures against tariffs imposed by the U.S. after member states approved a proposal made in response to the 25% tariff on steel and aluminum exports.
• Countries like Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Italy, Israel, Cambodia, United Kingdom are now opening talks with U.S representatives on deals they hope could see the duties eased.
• President Donald Trump announced yesterday that US would announce new tariffs on pharmaceutical imports soon