The United States of America (USA) and China have been at each other’s throats in the past week, the cat-and-dog fight between the world’s two largest economies resulted in China dismissing US President Donald Trump’s mounting brinkmanship as a “joke”.
CHINA IMPOSES 125% TARIFFS ON US GOODS
China said it would impose a 125% tariff on US goods while ignoring further levies made by Trump as it no longer made economic sense for importers to buy from America.
According to USA Today, this comes after Trump raised the tariffs to 145% on Chinese goods.
Trump has been enforcing high levies for many large economies to force manufacturers to base themselves in the United States and for countries to lower barriers to US goods.
With Trump’s high tariffs, markets have been plummeting, global stocks have fallen, the dollar slid as the trade war between the US and China has been the biggest disruption to the world trade order in decades.
Despite the economic woes and trade war, a temporary relief for stocks has eased after Trump decided to pause duties of many countries for 90 days ended rapidly, as attention returned to his escalating trade war with China which fuelled global recession fears.
Global head of multi-asset at Janus Henderson Adam Hetts said, “Recession risk is much, much higher now than it was a couple of weeks ago.”
THERE ARE NO WINNERS IN A TARIFF WAR, says XI JINPING
Chinese politician XI Jinping broke his silence for the first time since Beijing and Washington have been at loggerheads with each other with high levies.
“There are no winners in a tariff war and going against the world will only result in self-isolation.”
” For over seven decades, China’s growth has been fueled by self-reliance and hard work, never depending on favours from others and never backing down in the face of unreasonable suppression,” said Xi.
According to IOL, Trump says that increased duties are needed to address trade imbalances and stop China from “ripping off the USA.”
China also hit back at Trump slamming his “abnormally high tariffs” on Chinese products as “unilateral bullying and coercion.”
The trade war between these economically powerful countries has disrupted global markets, sent oil prices to four-year lows and caused worry over global supply chains.
Do you think the trade war between the US and China will bring harm to global markets?
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