The US government has announced plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on USD 50 billion in goods imported from China. The tariff targets goods containing "industrially significant technology", including those related to the 'Made in China 2025' programme. The exact list of covered imports will be announced by 15 June, and the tariffs will apply shortly thereafter.
The Made in China programme, adopted in 2015, focuses on increasing the amount of home-grown technology in China, with higher domestic content in manufactured products and developing more advanced products in key industries previously dominated by foreign companies.
The White House said the tariffs will come with continued efforts to protect its own technology and intellectual property, stop the transfer of significant industrial technology and intellectual property to China, and enhance access for US companies to the Chinese market. In addition, the US will request that China remove "all of its many trade barriers, including non-monetary trade barriers, which make it both difficult and unfair to do business there".
Discussions with China will continue on these topics, the White House said.
China's Ministry of Commerce expressed surprise at the US announcement, noting this contrasted with a previous agreement for a standstill in the trade war while negotiations continued. "Whatever measures the US takes, China has the confidence, capability and experience to defend the interests of Chinese people and the core interests of the country," the ministry in a statement on its website, reported by state news agency Xinhua. China urged the US to act "in accordance with the spirit of recent bilateral joint statement," the ministry added.
