Trade war begins, China hits back at Donald Trump, slaps US with retaliatory tariffs, EU, Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan said THIS...

After US President Donald Trump had announced reciprocal tariffs on more than 180 countries, many have hit back by imposing retaliatory tariffs on the US. While China has announced a retaliatory tariff of 34%, Vietnam, Singapore, the 27-member nation bloc European Union, Japan are preparing to hit back soon. 

China imposes retaliatory tariff of 34%

China responded to the 34% tariffs imposed by the US on imports from China by announcing it will impose a 34% tariff on imports of all US products beginning April 10.

As with earlier countermoves to US trade penalties, Beijing hit back with targeted action, as well as its universal 34% tariff on all products from the US.

The Commerce Ministry in Beijing said it will impose more export controls on rare earths, which are materials used in high-tech products such as computer chips and electric vehicle batteries.
Included in the list was samarium and its compounds, which are used in aerospace manufacturing and the defence sector. 

China's customs administration said it had suspended imports of chicken from two US suppliers, Mountaire Farms of Delaware and Coastal Processing. It said Chinese customs had repeatedly detected furazolidone, a drug banned in China, in shipments from those companies.

Additionally, the Chinese government said it has added 27 firms to the lists of companies subject to trade sanctions or export controls.

China files lawsuit in WTO

For good measure, China also filed a lawsuit with the World Trade Organisation, saying the US tariffs were “a typical unilateral bullying practice that endangers the stability of the global economic and trade order.”

Taiwan

Taiwan's president promised to provide support to industries most vulnerable to the 32% tariffs Trump ordered in his “Liberation Day” reciprocal tariffs announcement.

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said he will offer the “greatest support” to industries most impacted by the new tariffs. Taiwan's trade surplus with the US is relatively high partly because the island is a major source of computer chips and other advanced technology.

Lai said in a statement on his Facebook page that “We feel that this is unreasonable and are also worried about the subsequent impact these measures may have on the global economy.” Lai said he instructed Premier Cho Jung-tai to work closely with industries that are impacted and to communicate with the public about their plans to stabilise the economy.

Vietnam

Vietnam said its deputy prime minister would visit the US for talks on trade. Some, like the head of the EU's European Commission, have vowed to fight back while promising to improve the rules book for free trade. Others said they were hoping to negotiate with the Trump administration for relief.

Vietnam's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Pham Thu Hang, said Hanoi would keep talking with the US to “find practical solutions” as 46% US tariffs threatened to decimate exports of footwear, electronics, textiles and seafood.

“If enforced, would negatively impact bilateral economic and trade relations as well as the interests of businesses and people in both countries,” Hang said in comments cited by state-run media, which reported that the deputy prime minister and former finance minister Ho Duc Phoc was scheduled to visit the US for trade talks next week.

Japan: We need to talk

Most US trading partners have emphasised they hope negotiations can help resolve trade friction with Washington. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he was prepared to fly to Washington, in a last-ditch effort to forestall the 24%  tariffs Trump ordered for exports from the biggest Asian US ally.

Japan's leader Ishiba and other governments also said they were preparing countermeasures to help industries cope.

European Union

“The global trading system has serious deficiencies,” the president of the EU's European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said Thursday while on a visit to Uzbekistan.

Likewise, von der Leyen said the EU was consulting with steel and auto makers, pharmaceutical companies and other industries about how to give them more “breathing space.”

But she chided Trump, saying that “reaching for tariffs as your first and last tool will not fix it. This is why from the onset we have always been ready to negotiate with the United States.” 

Europe will work to build more bridges and as a regional economic bloc of 450 million people, larger than the United States, it also has its own huge market, said von der Leyen, the EC president.

Italy

In Italy, Premier Giorgia Meloni told state TV she believes the 20% US tariffs on exports from Europe were wrong, but “it is not the catastrophe that some are making it out to be.” 

Her government planned to meet next week with representatives of affected sectors to formulate plans. “We need to open an honest discussion on the matter with the Americans, with the goal, at least from my point of view, of removing tariffs, not multiplying them,” Meloni said.

(With inputs from PTI)