On April 1, 2018, the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China announced the country’s intention to impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. The Ministry suggested that China’s response was not designed to escalate tensions between the two countries. Instead, China hopes that the U.S. will quickly rescind the Section 232 tariffs that “violate World Trade Organization rules,” according to the Ministry’s statement on Sunday.
China informed the WTO on March 29 that it would suspend concessions on 128 U.S. products in retaliation to the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. According to the filing, China will apply an additional duty of 15 percent on 120 items including fruits, nuts, wine, and steel and iron tubes and pipes; and an additional duty of 25 percent on 8 items including pork and aluminum scrap. China acted pursuant to Article 8 of the Agreement on Safeguards by notifying the WTO of its intention to impose retaliatory tariffs against the United States.
The Trump administration responded to China’s retaliatory tariffs by telling China to focus on fixing its own “unfair trading practices” instead of targeting “fairly traded” U.S. exports by imposing additional tariffs.
The tariffs on the 128 U.S. goods took effect on April 2, 2018.