- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- world@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- world@lemmy.world
The White House said China is now facing up to a 245 percent tariff on imports to the U.S. “as a result of its retaliatory actions,” another escalation in a trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
The top potential tariff is higher than the previously stated 145 percent and was referenced in a fact sheet published by the White House late on Tuesday.
It accompanied an executive order signed by President Donald Trump that launched an investigation into the “national security risks posed by U.S. reliance on imported processed critical minerals and their derivative products.”
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian was asked about the 245 percent rate at a press briefing on Wednesday. “You can ask the U.S. side for the specific tax rate figures,” Lin said, China News Network reported.
“This tariff war was initiated by the United States, and China’s necessary countermeasures are to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests and international fairness and justice, which are completely reasonable and lawful.”
Trump imposed a 10 percent tariff on imports from all countries. He has temporarily paused additional “reciprocal” rates set individually for each country depending on the trade barriers faced by the U.S. to allow time for negotiations on new deals.
The exception to that pause is China, which is facing increasingly higher tariffs from the U.S. and has responded in kind, among other countermeasures.
This week, China imposed more export controls on rare earths, which include materials used in high-tech products, aerospace manufacturing, and the defense sector.
Despite the eye-watering tariffs and tough rhetoric, both the U.S. and China have said they are open to talks on trade, though further tit-for-tat retaliation is likely in this conflict between two great powers.
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China doesn’t face a 245% tariff. Us US individuals and small businesses face a 245% tariff.
Sure, but this lowers US consumer demand for goods produced in China, giving the PRC motivation to seek increased economic ties elsewhere. China is negatively impacted by this in the short term, though they are better equipped to handle it due to actually holding the productive forces in the equation.
It lowers the ability for Americans to pay for those goods. China might be affected, but the Americans are getting screwed.
Sure, I agree that the US is fighting a losing battle and that the US Working Class will end up paying the most for it.
The Chinese economy is not a pond, but an ocean. The ocean may have its calm days, but big winds and storms are only to be expected. Without them, the ocean wouldn’t be what it is. Big winds and storms may upset a pond, but never an ocean. Having experienced numerous winds and storms the ocean will still be there. It’s the same for China. After going through 5,000 years of trials and tribulations China is still here. Looking ahead China will always be here to stay.
-President Xi Jinping
I also really like Democracy is not an Ornament and Water Droplets Drilling Through Rock.
When I describe my awe upon seeing the power of droplets drilling through rock, I am praising those who have the willingness to rise each time one falls, and the moral character to sacrifice for overall success. I am expressing my admiration for those who develop a solid plan and then have the tenacity to see it through to the end.
Thanks for sharing this, this is cool. If Xi Jinping were not a political leader, I think he would be a poet. (Assuming he writes his own speeches, if not, whoever is amazing.)
Yep! He probably has some help, but many Chinese write in similarly flowery ways, especially those who rise through the ranks of the CPC due to how its structured.
He has a political advisor who helped him develop his thought and helped him write the book.
Wang Huning?
That’s the weird endgame here, the result will be stronger international China influence and less international US influence.
It’s like the Generals willfully losing against the Globetrotters.
It might have worked back in the 90s, when China was more reliant on the US, but now China has built up BRICs and the BRI, it has a much better industrial base and more customers. In the end, this dramatically benefits China’s standing.
Why doesn’t he just make them infinity percent? You know, like the way children use the idea of infinity.
I dare you. I double dare you. I dare you times 100. I dare you times infinity.
It might as well be, except for the theater of it.
“Given that, at the current tariff level, U.S. exports to China are no longer commercially viable, China will not respond to any further tariff hikes by the U.S. on Chinese goods,” the ministry said.
The U.S’ tactics of weaponizing tariffs have become “a joke,” it said in a statement.
“If the U.S. keeps playing the numbers game of tariffs, China will ignore it,”
Will probably see further movements from the PRC to sell off US treasury bonds and shifting more away from the dollar in general, along with tighter export restrictions on rare Earth.
What would be incredibly based is if the PRC starts paying off loans in Africa with its dollars, decoupling the Global South from the US even further. Gets rid of dollars and debt in the Global South, potentially freeing up new customers for goods produced in China and strengthening ties.
i am not sure what else the us thinks it can leverage to demand that high of a tarriff.
i’ve read trump say china needs us demand and consumption. i haven’t seen any facts and numbers to back that up.
It’s not insignificant by any stretch, but China was far more reliant on the US in the past. That’s why they have been building up the Belt and Road Initiative and BRICs, to build up alternative customers in case the US ever made a hard pivot. The PRC is more than willing to ride the gravy train of US money flowing in for as long as it can last, as they can spend that time building up alternative customers, but had this been the 90s this very well may have worked for Trump. Too little too late, though.
good point with the belt and road initiative as well as brics!
Thanks! That’s really been China’s whole strategy this time since Deng, rapidly improve the productive forces as quickly as possible and never be overly reliant on any ties, especially not the US, as the US is firmly anti-communist and will eventually make a hard break with the PRC (the US thought it would go the same way as the USSR to Russian Federation, which ended up being false).
The PRC isn’t doing BRICS and BRI for charity, nor for Imperialist control either. It’s doing it for customers, which it needs in the long run in order to not be isolated and reliant on the US.
Exports to US account for roughly 2% of China’s economy, it’s clearly not significant for China
2-3% is not small or inconsequential when you’re the worlds largest export economy. The reason China is well placed to take this hit is because unlike the US they’re very methodical and measured in the moves they make, and the party has command of the economy.
China’s growth was projected to be at around 5%, so even taking a full 2-3% hit would mean the economy would continue to grow. And as you rightly point out, the governance in China is very effective, and they have been preparing for this eventuality for a long time. The most likely scenario is that trade will be redirected, and the government will directly support parts of the economy that are affected by the decoupling.
Just a small note for clarity, but the US is not demanding a tariff from China. The US is imposing a tariff on goods from China, and US citizens are the ones that pay that. It’s not like Trump is asking China to fork over a bunch of money. He’s telling Americans that if they want Chinese goods they are going to have to pay even more. In theory, this would cause Americans to buy less of these goods because essentially they can’t afford them, and therefore China suffers, but money coming from the US is probably not going to affect China the way that increased tariffs will affect Americans.
This just feels like a teacher trying to punish a kid, who doesn’t give a fuck, with detention.
More like a kid trying to give a teacher detention
just do a trade embargo at this point 🤣
But then he can’t say the wall just got 10ft higher again…
😆
China’s already said they wouldn’t retaliate with tariffs anymore, so I wonder what their response will be.
More export controls on rare earths, or maybe selling off US treasury bonds?
Sell the bonds and make maga cry harder. 'It worked for Japan and Canada.
They will crank it all up to 1488%
That’s 245%. Anyone else? 245% going, going, gone. Sold for 245%! Next!
The funniest outcome for this would be that China just stops trading with the US altogether and opens up trade with DPRK and Cuba.
Cuba.
We’ll get the Cuban Funko Pop Crisis if all the treats are diverted there. That’s treats too close to the US border.
Funko Pops will overflow from the Cuban soil and spill into the Gulf of
MexicoAmericaFunko and revive the minor fishing business.
Was China not trading with Korea and Cuba already? Its not like those two alone can replace the US.
Honestly I was going off the assumption that China had to recognize the Cuban blockade in order to trade with the US. I’m probably not as informed on that as I could be.
The US literally thinks they’re invincible. The fallout when reality finally hits them will be delicious.
Half to a third of the U.S. The rest of us know full well how bad this is. I really hope Cali puts its tariff exemptions in place and Oregon and Washington follow suit because otherwise we’re going to see the worst recession in the country’s history
Cali tariff exemptions
Um, how?
The only way out of this at this point is … to get out.
If Trump manages to balkanize the US I’m never gonna doubt accelerationists again
October 2025: China will now face an ungabatillion percent tarrif! We can keep this going all day!
Are these tariffs even being implemented or are they just “announced”? I can only imagine the chaos that customs workers must be going through.
Edit: Found an answer to my own question. It starts on may 2.
Always announced never implemented.
Trump is like an idiot bully who insists he commands ten big thugs! No twenty! No thirty and with guns! No thirty with guns and grenades and a tank!
They mean nothing.
But they are providing ample opportunity for places like China to show that they DO have real power.
Is there a date when these show up for consumers? I’ve heard of small businesses getting hit from suppliers but store shelves and online prices have looked normal.
Are retailers holding off or something?
It won’t hit all at once for a lot of different reasons. Retailers’ back stock is not subject to tariff because it has already been imported. Raw material lead times for products assembled in the US will be longer than products imported ready for store shelves. Apple recently made the news for importing planefuls of iPhones the weekend before the tariff was applied. Smaller businesses won’t be able to do stuff like that, but big corporations will have likely done similar things to soften/slow price increases. And, until additional duties go into effect worldwide, lots of companies had already diversified their manufacturing out of China for US-bound products because of the already existing tariffs from Trump’s first term.
But once the companies have to pay the higher price, so will we all.
It’s going to be based on when retailers pay the price. Most retailers have inventory from before the tarrifs still.
That would be the common sense answer. In reality, we know the prices will shoot up on existing inventory once the cost to restock goes up.
And then it will never go back down again.
