Hannah Miao and Liza Lin of The Wall Street Journal report that in retaliation to U.S. tariffs, China imposed new tariffs on U.S. agricultural products, added U.S. companies to export control lists, and filed a WTO lawsuit. These measures target specific sectors while leaving room for negotiation on broader trade issues. They write:
China hit back at the U.S. with a slate of retaliatory measures in response to the Trump administration’s latest tariff increase, escalating a trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
The coordinated action across government bodies—including a series of new tariffs on American products as well as controls on U.S. companies—was announced just as the White House’s additional 10% levy on all Chinese products came into effect.
Beijing said it would impose an additional 15% tariff on U.S. chicken, wheat, corn and cotton products, and an additional 10% tariff on sorghum, soybeans, pork, beef, seafood, fruits, vegetables and dairy products. The new tariffs from China are set to go into effect on March 10.
Simultaneously, the Commerce Ministry said it added more than two dozen American companies to export control and corporate blacklists and opened an investigation into the sale of certain optical fiber products by U.S. manufacturers. China said it has also filed a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization against the U.S.’s new tariff increase. […]
Analysts say China’s response so far to tariffs has been targeted and measured, signaling Beijing is prepared to counter Trump’s trade penalties while leaving room for negotiation. […]
China’s retaliatory agricultural tariffs put pressure on a major export market for U.S. farmers. China was the U.S.’s third-largest destination for agricultural exports last year, totaling about $24.7 billion in value, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. It is by far the U.S.’s largest buyer of soybeans, purchasing about $12.8 billion in 2024, according to the USDA. […]
Later on Tuesday, China’s customs agency said it was suspending imports of wood from the U.S., and U.S. soybean imports from three companies. […]
China is more dependent on exports as a driver of economic growth than it has been for most of the past two decades, making its economy vulnerable in an escalating trade war with the U.S. […]
Chinese officials have said the country has done much to crack down on the drug and that the source of the American opioid crisis lies in the U.S.
Beijing effectively barred fentanyl production and distribution of fentanyl in 2019 under U.S. pressure, though U.S. officials say China has done less to curtail the supply of precursor chemicals used to make the drug and limit avenues for laundering the financial proceeds from its distribution.
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