US-China trade war hits $100 billion in goods

WASHINGTON/BEIJING

From Harley-Davidson motorcycles and American bourbon to Chinese parts and machinery, the world’s two largest economies have exchanged punitive tariffs that slice through a wide swath of products.

As of Aug. 23, the United States is charging 25-percent import duties on an additional $16 billion in Chinese products, bringing the total to over 1,000 items valued at about $50 billion in trade a year.

China has responded dollar-for-dollar on hundreds of U.S. products, putting the total value of affected goods at $100 billion, one-seventh of total annual U.S.-China trade.

China’s Commerce Ministry said Washington was “remaining obstinate” by implementing the latest tariffs, which kicked-in on both sides as scheduled at 12:01 p.m. in Beijing (0401 GMT).

“China resolutely opposes this, and will continue to take necessary countermeasures,” it said in a brief statement, as quoted by Reuters.

“At the same time, to safeguard free trade and multilateral systems, and defend its own lawful interests, China will file suit regarding these tariff measures under the WTO dispute resolution mechanism,” it said.

The Trump administration says its aggressive stance is to pressure Beijing to change policies that allow the theft of U.S. technology and undercut American producers.

The tariffs are aimed at Chinese goods -- such as aircraft parts and computer hard drives -- that Washington says have benefited from unfair trade practices.

China has accused the United States of starting the “largest trade war in economic history.”

Computers, electronics and machinery are among the hardest-hit, including $1.1 billion in imports of computer processors, and the same amount of electrical machines.

The next biggest victims are $700 million in integrated circuits, $500 million in solar cells, and $400 million in computer memory.

Also on the U.S. hit list are milking machines for dairy cows, incubators for baby chicks, flight data recorders, x-ray tubes, bulldozers and arc lamps as well as motorcycles and mopeds.

While the top five targeted Chinese products total about $9 billion, there are dozens of products that have seen no imports -- or in very small amounts -- over the past two years.

Spacecraft, helicopters, microwave tubes, nuclear reactor parts, telescopes, locomotives and retread tires are among the goods subject to tariffs but unlikely to be hit by them in practice.

Ironic moves

Ironically, the goods the United States has targeted are mostly intermediate products manufactured in China by multinational companies imported by U.S.-based manufacturers, and miss Chinese firms, according to analysts.

The Peterson Institute for International Economics says nearly all of the U.S. tariffs imposed on China to date are on intermediate goods and capital equipment needed by U.S. industry.

China so far has retaliated in kind, hitting American agricultural goods and autos in July, along with new taxes on more than 300 U.S. products on Aug. 23.

Beijing’s latest volley is aimed at 333 U.S. exports like hybrid electric and off-road vehicles, coal, dump trucks, asphalt, MRI machines and motorcycles, among other items.

Harley-Davidson will have to bump up the Chinese price of its iconic motorbikes at least 20 percent, a store representative in Beijing said.

That adds to the American beef, pork, many types of fish, and dozens of fruits and nuts that were taxed in July.

The most painful perhaps is the tariff on U.S. soybeans, which chokes off a key export market for American farmers, who shipped $14 billion of the beans to China last year.

The $50 billion in goods now subject to tariffs is only the first round.

The office of the U.S. Trade Representative is looking into 25-percent duties on another $200 billion in goods, with hearings underway this week. Those could take effect as soon as next month.

And as China has vowed to retaliate further, Trump has threatened to target all $500 billion in goods the U.S. imports from the Asian giant.