The trade war between the US and China intensifies, with Trump’s proposed 10 per cent hike in tariffs to come into effect from Tuesday at midnight Eastern Time.
While Canada's and Mexico's aggressive response forced the US president to halt slapping tariff hikes on both countries, China, on the other hand, has responded calmly to the latest developments.
However, China’s Ministry of Commerce said it “hopes that the US side will objectively and rationally look at and deal with its fentanyl issue and other issues, rather than threatening other countries through tariffs at every turn.”
It also said that they are likely to file a lawsuit against the US with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and “take corresponding countermeasures to firmly safeguard its own rights and interests.”
It further said, “No matter what, China will at cost defend its rights” as the proposed US tariffs “seriously violate the WTO rules.”
Also read: China vows to fight back as US escalates trade war
Ja Ian Chong, a professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, has said while China is maintaining a calm and measured reaction, it is also planning to propose counter-tariffs on US firms shortly after the new sanctions come into effect.
He said, “China is already under tariffs imposed by the Trump administration during his first term in office.”
“Now, the PRCS has been reacting relatively calmly. They seem to claim that 10 per cent is something that they can weather,” he said.
“The PRC has several tools at hand. If they so choose, they could impose tariffs, but they don’t have to respond symmetrically. They could halt rare earth [metals]... that they have a real hold on, in products going to the US. So that would affect things like microchips. That would affect things like batteries that are important and immensely important for the US economy,” Chong added.
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