China Hits Back at Trump With Tariffs, Limits on Key Exports

(Bloomberg) -- China retaliated against Donald Trump’s latest tariffs with commensurate levies on all American goods and export controls on rare earths, dealing a fresh blow to global markets and prompting the US president to quickly deride Beijing’s reaction as the “wrong” move.

President Xi Jinping’s government will impose a 34% tariff on all imports from the US starting April 10, matching the level of Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs on Chinese products. Authorities in Beijing also announced other measures including:

• Immediately restrict exports of seven types of rare earths
• Launch anti-dumping probe into medical CT X-ray tubes from the US and India
• Halt imports of poultry products from two American companies
• Add 11 American defense companies to an unreliable entity list
• Impose export controls on 16 US firms
• Halt imports of sorghum from a US company
• Investigate DuPont China for suspected antitrust violations

China’s measures, announced simultaneously by multiple ministries on Friday evening during a public holiday, followed Trump’s move to boost tariffs on global trade partners, introducing the steepest American duties in a century. The latest US tariffs will raise levies on nearly all Chinese products to at least 54%, potentially crippling Chinese exports to the US.

Trump hit back in a social media post, saying “CHINA PLAYED IT WRONG, THEY PANICKED — THE ONE THING THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO DO!”

US equities continued to tumble on Friday, even after a Labor Department report in Washington showed US employers added more workers in March than economists projected. Shares of companies including DuPont de Nemours Inc. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. suffered some of the steepest declines. In commodities, soybean futures in Chicago closed at the lowest since December on concern about weaker sales to China.

Tensions between the world’s biggest economies have worsened since Trump’s return to the White House. The US president has yet to speak with his Chinese counterpart more than two months after his inauguration. Both countries are locked in a stalemate over China’s alleged role in the flow of fentanyl into America, which Trump cited as a reason for the previous two rounds of tariffs.

“The speed in which the counter measures were rolled out shows a high level of deliberation and a suite of appropriate responses to hit back at the US,” said Dylan Loh, assistant professor at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “It strikes the balance between inflicting some pain but not being seen as a overreaction.”

China’s decision to retaliate before US tariffs take effect on April 9 marks a shift from its previous approach of waiting until duties were in place. 

The move also came ahead of what was then an April 5 deadline for TikTok’s Beijing-based owner, ByteDance Ltd., to find a non-Chinese buyer or face a US ban. That deadline was extended by another 75 days on Friday after China is said to have withheld its approval of a proposal following the tariff announcement.

Trump on Thursday reiterated his willingness to offer tariff relief if China approves the sale of TikTok’s US operations. By taking action now, Beijing may be trying to strengthen its position in any future negotiations.

Before this week’s announcement, the tariff imbalance between the US and China was stark: American duties on Chinese goods towered over the tariffs China charges the US. China’s average tariff on US goods stood at 17.8%, less than the 32.8% the US charged on Chinese goods, according to a Bloomberg Economics analysis.

Last year, China imported almost $164 billion of goods from the US, the lowest amount in four years. 

“The US action does not abide by international trade rules, severely undermines China’s legitimate and lawful rights and interests, and is typical unilateral bullying,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement announcing the 34% tariffs. 

Rare Earths

China has now repeatedly sought to use its dominance of the minor metal and rare-earth supply chain to hit back at punitive US tariffs, among other curbs. These niche materials are typically crucial for specific technological processes or alloys, and are hard to replace.

On Friday, Beijing said it would restrict the export of seven rare earths — samarium, used in optical lasers and powerful magnets; gadolinium, used as a contrast agent for MRI scans; terbium, used in display devices; dysprosium, used in magnets for wind turbines and electric vehicles; lutetium, used in oil refineries; scandium, used in aerospace and yttrium, used in radar technology.

China said the restrictions would come into effect immediately.

“The relevant items have dual-use attributes, and it is an internationally accepted practice to impose export controls on them,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.

Several Chinese industry associations put out statements on Saturday condemning the US tariff measures. Repeatedly imposing tariffs is harmful rather than beneficial to the economic development of the US and can’t solve its problems, the China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals and Chemicals Importers and Exporters said. 

The economic conflict between the two governments has extended to private companies in both countries. Chinese officials have pushed back against Walmart Inc.’s efforts to pressure Chinese suppliers to cut prices to offset Trump’s tariffs. Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing drew Beijing’s ire by agreeing to sell his company’s ports in Panama, a move criticized as an attempt to appease Trump. 

Economists expect Trump’s tariffs to shave about two percentage points off China’s annual economic growth. Yet China’s stocks only saw a slight decline on Thursday before the holiday, with investors betting that Xi will unleash enough monetary and fiscal stimulus to ensure he hits an ambitious growth target of around 5% in 2025. 

Trump justified his new tariffs as a fair way to match the barriers that other countries enact on US firms and goods. His administration has also accused China of erecting non-tariff barriers that disadvantage US exports and companies, complaints that were laid out in an annual report published by the USTR this week.

The latest measures reflect China’s message to the Trump administration that both sides are equal, and Beijing will not simply submit or accept the situation, said Wen-Ti Sung, a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub.

At the same time, he said, China is leaving room for some kind of “off ramp.” 

“China’s retaliation seems still proportional and targeted by design, focusing mainly on agricultural goods and defense contractors,” he said. “Both of which are key Trump coalition constituencies.”

(Updates with Chinese trade bodies’s reactions in 18th paragraph)

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