On Sunday, the United States and China began imposing reciprocal tariffs on their goods, in the latest escalation of the trade war between the two economic giants, and China's tariffs target American oil for the first time.
As of today, Washington began activating 15% duties on imports worth up to 112 billion dollars, including smart speakers and Bluetooth headsets, as well as many types of shoes.
An increase in tariffs on merchandise is likely to drive up prices for American consumers in the medium term.
In return, China began imposing duties on some American goods on a target list of $75 billion. Beijing did not specify the value of the goods on which it will impose higher duties from Sunday.
Beijing imposed additional duties of 5% and 10% on 1,717 goods out of a total of 5,078 US products. Beijing will start collecting additional duties on the rest of the goods on September 15.
American crude:
Among the duties, the rate of 5% on imports of US crude oil coming to China, which will push towards a reduction in the intensity of its competition for crude coming from other markets.
It is the first time that US oil has been targeted since the world's two largest economies began their trade war more than a year ago.
China is the largest importer of crude oil in the world, with an average of ten million barrels per day, and the second largest consumer of it after the United States, with 12.5 million barrels per day.
The Trump administration said last month that it would increase existing and scheduled tariffs by 5% on about $550 billion in Chinese imports, after Beijing announced its retaliatory tariffs on American goods.
An additional 15 percent fee, estimated at $160 billion, including cell phones, laptop computers, toys and clothing, will come into effect on December 15.
Donald Trump has delayed the activation of the additional tariffs, which were supposed to go into effect today as well, in order to avoid hurting Christmas sales.
threats:
The United States imposed, in stages, duties on goods worth $250 billion, out of China's total exports to the country, which range between $550 and $600 billion annually.
China has repeatedly threatened to apply countermeasures in its trade dispute with the United States, if Washington goes ahead with its trade policies.
This comes as trade teams from China and the United States continue talks, and will meet in September, but Trump said that the increase in tariffs on Chinese goods that takes effect on Sunday will not be delayed.
And Bloomberg Agency reported earlier today that there are no indications that Washington may reverse its decision in the coming days.
The intensification of the trade war between the two countries has disrupted trade in goods worth hundreds of billions of dollars, slowed global economic growth and hurt markets.
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