China said it imposed customs duties on a number of American products, while an antitrust survey on Google has also been announced.
China announced on Tuesday that it was setting up customs duties on a number of American products and that it launched an antitrust survey on the American company High-Tech Google. These announcements were made the same day that the general customs duties of 10 % imposed by US President Donald Trump on Chinese products were to enter into force.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said that it would impose customs duties of 15 % on coal and products based on liquefied natural gas (GNL), as well as customs duties of 10 % on crude oil , agricultural equipment and large displacement cars.
“The unilateral increase in customs duties by the United States seriously violates the rules of the World Trade Organization,” said the ministry. “It is not only useless to solve its own problems, but it also harms normal economic and commercial cooperation between China and the United States.”
The 10 % customs duties imposed on China by President Donald Trump came into force on Tuesday, although the latter said he was planning to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the coming days.
In a separate announcement, the state administration for the regulation of the country’s markets said that it was investigating Google, suspected of having violated antitrust laws.
China’s decision has only occurred a few hours after Mr. Trump agreed to suspend the customs duties he had threatened for Mexico and Canada for 30 days, after the two countries agreed to take action to strengthen the security at their borders and fight against drug trafficking. He had announced trade measures against these three countries during the weekend.
China had reiterated its intention on Sunday to take “the countermeasures necessary to defend its legitimate rights and interests” following the decision of President Trump to impose customs duties of 10 % on China for having allegedly done too much Little to stem the production of petannyl precursor chemicals.
The countermeasures taken by China should take effect on February 10.
In addition to customs duties, China has announced export controls on several essential elements for the production of modern high -tech products. These include tungsten, tellure, bismuth, molybdenum and indium, many of which are designated as critical minerals by the American Geological Institute (US Geological Survey), which means that they are essential to the economy or national security of the United States and that their supply chains are vulnerable to disturbances.
Export controls are added to those that China has set up in December on key elements such as gallium used in the manufacturing industry.
The Ministry of Commerce has also placed two American companies on a list of unreliable entities: PVH Group, which owns Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, and Illumina, a biotechnology company with offices in China. This list forbids them to engage in import or export activities linked to China and to make new investments in the country.
Additional sources • Adaptation: Serge Duchêne
