China on Thursday said that if the United States continues to play the “tariff numbers game”, it will pay no attention to it, reported Reuters.
China’s foreign ministry made the comment in response to the White House’s statement that China faces tariffs of up to 245% due to its retaliatory action.
Trump’s administration has announced a sweeping new tariff of up to 245% on Chinese imports, sharply escalating the trade conflict between the United States and China.
The decision was detailed in the White House’s fact sheet released late Tuesday.
“More than 75 countries have already reached out to discuss new trade deals. As a result, the individualised higher tariffs are currently paused amid these discussions, except for China, which retaliated,” it said.
“China now faces up to a 245% tariff on imports to the United States as a result of its retaliatory actions,” the fact sheet said, without giving details.
The White House, in the fact sheet, also accused Beijing of banning exports to the US of gallium, germanium, antimony, and other key high-tech materials with potential military applications.
“Just this week, China suspended exports of six heavy rare earth metals, as well as rare earth magnets, in order to choke off supplies of components central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world,” it added.
Last week, China raised its additional tariffs on imports from the US to 125 per cent in retaliation to Trump administration’s 145% levies on Chinese exports. It also filed a lawsuit with the WTO following the US tariff hikes.
Beijing said American tariffs go “against the whole world” and would “seriously damage the rules-based multilateral trading system”
