China will hit all U.S. imports with a 34 percent tariff from April 10 as retaliation against measures President Donald Trump levied earlier this week, Beijing’s finance ministry announced Friday.
China was one of the main targets of the massive, wide-ranging tariffs that Trump presented this week. The U.S. runs a vast trade deficit in goods with China because it imports heavily from the Asian powerhouse.
Beijing’s retaliation brings the world to the brink of a fully fledged trade war, as massive economies — including the EU — weigh tough responses to the White House announcement.
Along with the retaliatory tariffs, China also raised the bar for exports to the U.S. of critical raw materials, such as samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium.
These metals are used in magnets, nuclear tech, cancer research, oil drilling or other high-tech sectors. In recent trade disputes with the U.S. and EU, China has already restricted trade in more common metals like graphite, gallium and germanium.
In a statement, the Chinese finance ministry said: “This practice of the U.S. is not in line with international trade rules, seriously undermines China’s legitimate rights and interests, and is a typical unilateral bullying practice.”
Martina Sapio contributed to this report.
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