China says 'market has spoken' after US tariffs spark selloff
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BEIJING: China said on Saturday (Apr 5) "the market has spoken" in rejecting US President Donald Trump's tariffs, and called on Washington for "equal-footed consultation" after global markets' dramatic reaction to the trade levies, which drew Chinese retaliation.
Several Chinese commerce associations in industries from healthcare and textiles to electronics also issued statements on Saturday calling for unity in exploring alternative markets and warning that the tariffs would worsen inflation in the US.
"The market has spoken," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said in a post on Facebook on Saturday morning. He also posted a picture capturing Friday's falls on US markets.
Trump introduced additional 34 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods as part of steep levies imposed on most US trade partners, bringing the total duties on China this year to 54 per cent.
Trump also closed a trade loophole that had allowed low-value packages from China to enter the US duty-free.
This prompted sweeping retaliation from China on Friday, including extra levies of 34 per cent on all US goods and export curbs on some rare earths, escalating the trade war between the world's two largest economies.
However, Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan told public broadcaster RTHK that Hong Kong would not impose separate countermeasures, citing the need for the city to remain "free and open".
Global stock markets plummeted following China's retaliation and Trump's comments on Friday that he would not change course, extending sharp losses that followed Trump's initial tariff announcement earlier in the week and marking the biggest losses since the pandemic. For the week, the S&P 500 was down 9 per cent.
"Now is the time for the US to stop doing the wrong things and resolve the differences with trading partners through equal-footed consultation," Guo wrote in English.
China's chamber of commerce representing traders in food products called on "China's food and agricultural products import and export industry to unite and strengthen cooperation to jointly explore domestic and foreign markets".
The metals and chemicals traders' chamber said the tariffs "will push up the import cost for US importers and the consumption cost for consumers, exacerbate domestic inflation in the US, and increase the possibility of a US recession".
Trump's broadest tariffs to date took effect on Saturday, with a 10 per cent "baseline" tariff hitting most US imports except goods from Mexico and Canada.
Dozens of economies, including China, face even higher rates from Apr 9.
The US also said on Wednesday that it will end the tax exemption for packages worth less than US$800 from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, starting May 2. Those products will be subjected to a duty rate of 30 per cent of their value, or US$25 per item.
The China Express Association, on behalf of China's postal and express delivery enterprises, expressed firm opposition to the US move to cancel duty-free treatment for low-value packages from China, according to its statement issued on Thursday.
The association said that cross-border e-commerce packages from China have helped American consumers meet their personalised consumption needs, reduce their living costs and improve their quality of life, adding that the move will harm the interests of consumers in the United States, especially families and young people, who rely on cross-border e-commerce shopping.
"We hope the United States will correct its wrong practice and take necessary measures to create a fair and predictable policy environment for the development of cross-border e-commerce and delivery," the association said.
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