What’s at stake in US-China trade war

Senior US trade administration officials indicated that President Donald Trump had asked his trade tsar, Robert Lighthizer, to look into raising proposed tariffs on $200bn in Chinese goods from 10 per cent to 25 per cent. China reacted by saying it would “introduce counter-measures to defend the country’s dignity”, should the US go ahead with the proposed increase. The spat sent world-wide markets lower over fears of an escalation in the trade dispute, and the Chinese currency fell to its lowest level since May 2017.

President Donald Trump released a new list of $200bn in goods that could receive a 10 per cent tariff. The new list directly takes aim at Fortune 500 companies outsourcing components or material to China, in sectors ranging from auto parts, to processed food and ingredients, to construction materials. The latest round of tariffs are subject to a period of consultation that runs until the end of August, meaning the trade friction will continue well into the autumn campaign season for the U.S. midterm elections.

See the full list of 5984 items

President Donald Trump has ordered US trade officials to identify a further $200bn in goods from China to be subject to a 10 per cent tariff, if Beijing follows through on the retaliation measures it announced on June 16. Mr Trump added that he was also prepared to impose tariffs on an additional $200bn beyond that. US officials said the process of assembling the list would follow the same public consultation process used for a previous list, meaning it could take at least three months to finalise.

Beijing announced it would retaliate against new US tariffs, with the commerce ministry saying that it would “immediately introduce countermeasures of the same scale and strength”. China’s finance ministry said it would begin imposing its own 25 per cent tariffs on 545 categories of US products worth $34bn including soyabeans, beef, whiskey and off-road vehicles on July 6. It also threatened to add a further $16bn later, targeting US energy exports such as coal and crude oil.

See the full list of 258 items

President Donald Trump decides to impose tariffs on about $50bn worth of imports from China. The White House claimed the new restrictions were justified by Beijing’s longstanding theft of US companies’ intellectual property. The first of the new US tariffs on a $34bn tranche of 818 product lines, which mainly affect agricultural products, will take effect from July 6. Duties on a separate list of 284 products worth $16bn will be subject to a public consultation period and take effect later.

See the full list of 1102 items

President Donald Trump issues a statement saying that "in light of China’s unfair retaliation," he has instructed the US trade representative to "consider whether $100bn of additional tariffs would be appropriate", and to identify which products should be affected.

China sets out its list of targets for possible retaliation, including key exports from the US such as soyabeans and cars.

See the full list of 106 items

The US administration announces a new list of 1,333 Chinese product categories that could face 25 per cent tariffs.

See the full list of 1333 items

China retaliates with new tariffs on 128 categories of products, including pork, fruit and nuts, steel pipe for the oil industry, and ethanol. This list is not ranked by the dollar value of trades.

See the full list of 128 items

The US imposes new tariffs on steel and aluminium. Most of the largest steel exporters to the US are exempted at least until May 1, but China is among the countries that are hit. This list is not ranked by the dollar value of trades.

See the full list of 2 items