Washington - US President Donald Trump's
tariff increase to 25 percent on $200 billion worth of Chinese
goods took effect on Friday, ratcheting up tensions between the
United States and China as they pursue last-ditch talks to try
to salvage a trade deal.
With no action from the Trump administration to reverse the
increase, US Customs and Border Protection imposed the new 25
percent duty on affected US-bound cargoes leaving China after
12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT) on Friday.
Goods in the more than 5,700 affected product categories
that left Chinese ports and airports before midnight will be
subject to the original 10 percent duty rate, a CBP spokeswoman
said.
The grace period was not applied to three previous rounds of
tariffs imposed last year on Chinese goods, which had much
longer notice periods of at least three weeks before the duties
took effect.
Trump gave US importers less than five days notice about
his decision to increase the rate on the $200 billion category
of goods to 25 percent, which now matches the rate on a prior
$50 billion category of Chinese machinery and technology goods.
The hike comes in the midst of two days of talks between top
US and Chinese negotiators to try to rescuing a faltering deal
aimed at ending end a 10-month trade war between the world's two
largest economies.
The biggest Chinese import sector affected by the rate hike
is a $20 billion-plus category of internet modems, routers and
other data transmission devices, followed by about $12 billion
worth of printed circuit boards used in a vast array of
US-made products.
Furniture, lighting products, auto parts, vacuum cleaners
and building materials are also high on the list of products
subject to the higher duties.
Gary Shapiro, chief executive of the Consumer Technology
Association said the tariffs would be paid by American consumers
and businesses, not China, as Trump has claimed.
"Our industry supports more than 18 million US jobs – but
raising tariffs will be disastrous," Shapiro said in a
statement. "The tariffs already in place have cost the American
technology sector about $1 billion more a month since October.
That can be life or death for small businesses and startups that
can’t absorb the added costs."
Economists and industry consultants have said it may take
three or four months for American shoppers to feel the pinch
from the tariff hike but retailers will have little choice but
to raise prices on a wide range of goods to cover the rising
cost of imports before too long, according to economists and
industry consultants.