China Strikes Back - Retaliates With $50 Billion Tariffs On US Goods

Update: As China refines its retaliatory tariffs, it clarified Friday afternoon in New York that tariffs on US soybeans will begin July 6, while tariffs on US crude oil, natural gas, coal and some refined oil products will begin at a later date.

Meanwhile, US aircraft are not on the tariff list.

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Just as China promised, they have responded "immediately" to President Trump's "very big tariffs" and just unveiled $50 billion in tariffs against US goods including soybeans, light aircraft, orange juice, whiskey and beef, starting July 6th.

Mirroring the US tariffs scheme, China's Ministry of Finance is setting a two-tier system with $34bn on July 6th and $16bn more to follow...

On June 15, 2018, the U.S. government issued a list of goods subject to tariffs, which will impose a tariff of 25% on about 50 billion U.S. dollars of goods imported from China, of which about US$34 billion will be goods from July 6, 2018. It began to impose tariffs and began to solicit public opinions on about 16 billion U.S. dollars in tariffs. The U.S. measures violated the relevant rules of the World Trade Organization and it is contrary to the consensus reached in the Sino-U.S. negotiations. It seriously violates our legitimate rights and interests and threatens the interests of our country and people.

According to the "People's Republic of China Foreign Trade Law," "The People's Republic of China Import and Export Tariff Regulations," and other laws and regulations and the basic principles of international law, the State Council Tariff Commission decided to impose an additional 25% on 659 items of US$50 billion imported goods originating in the United States. Tariffs, including 545 items of approximately US$34 billion in goods, have been subject to additional tariffs since July 6, 2018, and the implementation time of additional tariffs on other commodities has been announced separately.

List 1 here (Chinese only for now)...

List 2 here (Chinese only for now)...

The response from China signaled a rapid escalation of the dispute. China will impose tariffs with “equal scale, equal intensity” on imports from the U.S. and all of the country’s earlier trade commitments are now off the table, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement on its website late Friday.

This is exactly what Goldman Sachs was worried about:

"We expect a minimal effect on growth and consumer price inflation from the tariffs, if implemented, but the announcement raises the odds that additional restrictions will be proposed over coming months."

Things are about to get a lot more expensive...