Trump announces tariff hikes as US-China trade war escalates
Donald Trump has hit back at China by announcing plans to increase the tariffs on imports by a further a five per cent.
The trade war between the US and China escalated further on Friday, with China revealing plans to hit $75bn of US goods with duties.
Read more: Trump tirade against China sends stock markets tumbling
Trump then criticised the Chinese government for a “politically motivated” move and accused them of “taking advantage” of the US.
The stock markets took a hit in the wake of the news and following the end of Friday’s session, Trump announced a retaliatory increase in the tariffs already imposed on Chinese imports.
“Sadly, past administrations have allowed China to get so far ahead of fair and balanced trade that it has become a great burden to the American taxpayer,” Trump tweeted. “As president, I can no longer allow this to happen!”
The US President said he had “ordered” American companies to look elsewhere to produce their goods instead of China, suggesting they could do so in the US.
It came in response to China’s plans to increase duties between five and ten per cent on more than 5,000 US products including agricultural goods, aircraft and crude oil.
China will also re-impose a suspended 25 per cent duty on US car imports.
They will come into effect in two stages, on 1 September and 15 December.
As a result, the US will raise its tariffs on $250bn of Chinese imports from 25 per cent to 30 per cent, starting on 1 October.
Trump said he also planned to implement 15 per cent tariffs on a further $300bn of Chinese goods instead of the original 10 per cent.
He initially unveiled those plans on 1 August and blamed China for failing to buy more agricultural products from the US for the tariffs.
The tariffs were expected to be introduced at the start of next month on items like clothes and electronics, but some have been delayed until December to avoid hitting Christmas shopping in the US.
Read more: China threatens tariffs on $75bn of US goods
As a result of the trade war developments, the global financial markets took a hit on Friday.
The Dow Jones lost more than 620 points, or 2.4 per cent, while London’s FTSE 100 and the German DAX were also down.