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Trump hits China with tariffs worth $60bn
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IANS | 23 Mar, 2018
US President Donald Trump
embarked on the sharpest trade confrontation with China, moving toward
imposing tariffs worth $60 billion in Chinese goods and limiting
Beijings freedom to invest America's technology industry, media reports
said.
"We're doing things for this country that should have been
done for many, many years," The Washington Post quoted the President as
saying at the White House on Thursday.
"We have a tremendous
intellectual property theft problem... It's going to make us a much
stronger, much richer nation," Trump added.
The announcement
follows a seven-month government investigation into the intellectual
property theft, which has been a longstanding point of contention in
US-China trade relations, CNN reported.
In addition to the
tariffs, the US also plans to impose new investment restrictions, take
action against China at the World Trade Organisation and the Treasury
Department also will propose additional measures.
Trump directed
Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer to propose within 15 days
tariff increases designed to compensate the US for lost profits and
jobs.
After a 30-day comment period, the list, targeting Chinese products that benefited from US technology, will be made public.
But
even as he confronted China over technology, Trump weakened a new
tariff meant to protect US production of industrial metals, potentially
exempting the European Union, Brazil and other countries accounting for
two-thirds of steel imports and more than half of foreign-made
aluminium, The Washington Post reported.
Thursday's announcement sent stocks to their biggest one-day drop in six weeks.
On
Wall Street, the benchmark Dow Jones industrial average plunged more
than 700 points, or almost 3 per cent, as investors blanched at the
prospect of a trade war between the world's two largest economies.
Meanwhile,
the Chinese government fired back on Friday, threatening to impose
tariffs on $3 billion worth of US imports, including pork, wines and
steel pipes.
Trump's announcement was "typical unilateralism and
protectionism", China's Commerce Ministry said in a statement, and it
had set a "very bad precedent".
"China does not want to fight a trade war, but it is absolutely not afraid of a trade war," the ministry said.
"We
are confident and capable of meeting any challenge. It is hoped that
the U.S. side will be able to make a swift decision and not to drag
bilateral economic and trade relations into danger."
The ministry however, did not specify a deadline for imposing the tariffs.
Ahead
of Trump's announcement, China's Premier Li Keqiang had warned: "A
trade war does no good to anyone. There is no winner," CNN reported.
Trump,
on March 8, signed proclamations to impose a 25 per cent tariff on
imported steel and a 10 per cent tariff on aluminium, causing mounting
dissent among business groups and trading partners around the world.
Trump
had exempted Canada and Mexico from the import levies for the duration
of talks aimed at renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement.
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Customs Exchange Rates |
Currency |
Import |
Export |
US Dollar
|
66.20
|
64.50 |
UK Pound
|
87.50
|
84.65 |
Euro
|
78.25
|
75.65 |
Japanese
Yen |
58.85 |
56.85 |
As on 13 Aug, 2022 |
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Daily Poll |
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