The United States on Sunday said recent exemptions to sweeping US import tariffs may be short-lived as China urged the Trump's administration to simply abandon its aggressive trade tax policy altogether.
The world’s two largest economies have been locked in a fast-moving, high-stakes game of brinkmanship since US President Donald Trump launched a global tariff assault that particularly targeted Chinese imports.
DAILY POST reports that the tit-for-tat exchanges have seen US levies imposed on China rise to 145 percent, and Beijing setting a retaliatory 125 percent band on American imports.
However, The US slightly dialed down the pressure on Friday, listing tariff exemptions for smartphones, laptops, semiconductors and other electronic products for which China is a major source.
Chinese Ministry of Commerce said the move only represents a small step, insisting that the Trump's administration should completely cancel the whole tariff strategy.
The new exemptions are said to benefit US tech companies like Nvidia and Dell as well as Apple, which makes iPhones and other premium products in China.
The relief could, however, be short-lived with some of the exempted consumer electronics targeted for upcoming sector-specific tariffs on goods deemed key to US national defense networks.
The US president has said he will give “very specific”; details on Monday, and his commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, said semiconductor tariffs would likely be in place “in a month or two.”;
The Republican sent financial markets into a tailspin earlier this month by announcing sweeping import taxes on dozens of trade partners, only to abruptly announce a 90-day pause for most of them.
According to the White House, Trump remains optimistic about securing a deal with China, although administration officials have made it clear they expect Beijing to reach out first.
Trump’s trade representative Jamieson Greer on Sunday said that “we don’t have any plans”; for a talk between the president and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
