Canadian pork producers don’t see China-US trade tensions as opportunity

China’s move comes less than 24 hours after the U.S. announced an initial list of the products that will be subject to roughly $US50 billion in new tariffs planned by President Trump.

But when China released its list, it named only 106 items, meaning that the American producers of those products might feel the pain more acutely.

Beijing said it “strongly condemns and firmly opposes” the tariffs.

“These necessary actions constitute an important break with the appeasement of previous administrations, and provide an opportunity to chart a new course for America’s relationship with this strategic competitor”, Rubio wrote.

Kathy Bostjancic of Oxford Economics predicted the tariffs “would have just a marginal impact on the USA economy” – unless they spark “a tit-for-tat retaliation that results in a broad-based global trade war”. “Markets will none the less remain on edge owing to the chaotic USA negotiating style”.

“As the Chinese saying goes, it is only polite to reciprocate”, the embassy said in a statement.

“We will prepare equal measures for United States products with the same scale” according to regulations in Chinese trade law, a ministry spokesman said in comments carried by the official Xinhua News Agency.

Beijing has yet to say how it might respond to Trump’s March 22 order approving possible tariff hikes in response to complaints China steals or pressures foreign companies to hand over technology.

The release of the list comes just after China hit $3bn worth of USA products with tariffs in response to steel and aluminium tariffs the USA has imposed.

For example, the White House did not announce new import duties on shoes and clothing from China, which are staples of discount stores in the U.S. Tariffs on those products would have raised prices for consumers.

However, on Wednesday Chinese officials said they would respond with equal scope and ferocity to new U.S. measures.

It’s still not clear when the new waves of tariffs announced by the two sides might take effect – or if they’ll be watered down in the meantime.

President Trump has previously suggested “trade wars are good”, despite strong opposition to the controversial metal tariffs within both his own party and administration.

The US list contained around 1,300 Chinese products and included medical products, TVs and motorbikes.

“Even though the numbers between China and the USA are comparable, it seems clear that China is trying to twist the knife”, he said, “This is a warning that ‘we are willing to fight harder and inflict more pain that you are'”. But some analysts say China needs Boeing’s airplanes too much to deal the company a serious blow.

The US move “severely infringed on the legitimate rights and interests that China enjoys in accordance with the WTO rules, and threatened China’s economic interests and security”, the MOC said.

Numerous tariffs would target the Chinese aerospace, tech and machinery industries.

Instead, the Chinese retaliation list, published swiftly on Wednesday afternoon before a two-day Chinese public holiday for Qing Ming, has returned fire on Mr Trump’s tough negotiating tactics.

Many consumer electronics products such as cellphones made by Apple Inc. and laptops made by Dell were excluded, as were footwear and clothing, drawing a sigh of relief from retailers who had feared higher costs for American consumers.

The Chinese are hoping to limit the scope of their retaliatory measures likely to persuade the Trump administration to back off.