China announces new tariffs on U.S. goods

On 23 August 2019 the Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China announced that it will raise additional customs duties 5-10% on approximately 5000 goods originating in the United States of America, worth 75 billion USD. The first of these tariffs (affected items found in Annex 1 (in Chinese)) will come into effect on 1 September 2019; the second of these tariffs (affected items found in Annex 2 (in Chinese)) will come into effect on 15 December 2019. Included in the tariffs imposed on 15 December 2019 are a 25% and a 5% tariff on cars and parts originating in the U.S.

These additional customs duties implemented by China are in retaliation to tariff increases that were announced on 13 August 2019 on U.S. goods imported from China (see the Federal Register entry for details).

In response to China’s August 23rd announcement, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced that it will again increase tariffs on Chinese imports. USTR, as instructed by U.S. President Trump, will increase tariffs by 5% on approximately 550 billion USD worth of Chinese imports. Effective 1 October 2019 25% tariffs will increase to 30%, and 10% tariffs that were announced earlier in August will increase to 15%. The USTR will publish these updates in the Federal Register.