Beijing calls on US to lift latest tariffs

Vows retaliation if Washington doesn't

- JOE CASH XIUHAO CHIN LIZ LEE

BEIJING: China yesterday urged the United States to immediately cancel its latest tariff measures to safeguard its own interests, after President Donald Trump decided on sweeping levies on all US trading partners around the world.

The US move disregards the balance of interests reached in multilateral trade negotiations over the years and the fact that it has benefited greatly from International trade, China's Commerce Ministry said in a statement.

"China firmly opposes this and will take countermeasuresto safeguard its own rights and interests," the ministry said, as the world's largest economies look to set to spiral deeper into a trade war that stands to upend global supply chains.

Trump on Wednesday announced China would be hit with a 34% tariff on top of the 20% he previously imposed earlier this year, bringing the total new levies to 54% and close to the 60% figure he had threatened while on the campaign trail.

Chinese exporters, like those from other economies around the world, will face a 10% baseline tariff, as part of the new levies, on almost all goods shipped to the world's largest consumer economy from Saturday before the remaining, higher "reciprocal tariffs" take effect on April 9.

Trump also signed an executive order closing a trade loophole known as "de minimis" that has allowed low-value packages from China and Hong Kong to enter the US duty free.

Trump had ordered the US Trade Representative to determine whether China was living up to its commitments under the 2020 "Phase 1" US-China trade agreement by April 1.