Beijing has called upon US President Donald Trump administration on Sunday to ‘completely cancel’ the reciprocal tariffs imposed on it, taking the total levies to 145 per cent, reported AFP.
“We urge the US to.. take a big step to correct its mistakes, completely cancel the wrong practice of ‘reciprocal tariff’ and return to the right path of mutual respect,” AFP quoted a commerce ministry spokesperson as saying in a statement, adding “China is now evaluating the impact.”
Both the world’s largest economies have been engaged in a tit-for-tat tariff war ever since US President Donald Trump announced in April sweeping global tariffs, following escalating the blanket duty on Chinese goods to 145 percent.
Retaliatory Chinese import tariffs of 125 percent on US goods took effect Saturday, with Beijing standing defiant against its biggest trade partner.
However, this Trump administration announced a 90-day delay for most countries after the US President’s tariffs sent global markets into a tailspin. US even excluded China from the reprieve.
Washington dials down pressure:
Earlier on Friday, Washington again dialled down the pressure as the US Customs and Border Protection office said smartphones, laptops, memory chips and other products would be excluded from the global levies.
Reacting to this, China’s commerce ministry on Sunday called the exemptions a “small step” by Washington. They added that China was “evaluating the impact” of the decision.
The new exemptions by the Trump administration is expected to benefit the US tech companies like Nvidia and Dell, as well as Apple, which makes iPhones and other premium products in China.
According to senior RAND researcher Gerard DiPippo, the US Customs data suggests the exempted items account for more than 20 percent of those Chinese imports.
While, the semiconductors could still become a target of industry-specific tariffs Trump has suggested placing on imports from all countries.
Trump said Saturday that he would give a “very specific” answer to the question of any future semiconductor levies on Monday.
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