China - USA trade war [update]
During 2018 the two world largest economies, USA and China, which are also strong trade partners, started to implement tariffs and duties on goods sourced from the other side, that quickly escalated in what is now known as China - USA Trade War.
USA’s President Donald Trump has triggered the trade war by announcing a series of China-specific measures hitting goods imported by the USA from China. A timeline of the actions and countermeasures adopted by the USA and China can be found at this link.
Despite several high-level trade talks in the previous months and a temporary truce that has been declared to reduce tensions, in May the US President Donald Trump announced that the increase from 10% to 25% tariff previously expected to be effective on January 1, 2019, will take effect starting from May 10, 2019, hitting USD 200 billion of goods imported from China.
The response from China has been announced on May 13 by Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council, according to which China will implement new tariffs from June 1, 2019, hitting USD 60 billion of imports from the US. According to the new measures, a 25% tariff will be imposed on 2,493 goods, a 20% tariff on 1,078 goods, a 10% tariff on 974 goods and keeping the 5% tariff on 595 goods.