Donald Trump hikes tariff on Chinese goods

File photo of US President Donald Trump and China's Vice Premier Liu He in Washington. Pic/AFP

Washington/Beijing: A trade war between the world's two largest economies escalated on Friday after the US hiked tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese products and Beijing vowed to retaliate.

The move comes as high-level officials from both sides are attempting to salvage a trade deal in Washington. The higher tariffs will be applied to relevant US-bound goods exported from China on or after Friday, said a notice from US Federal Register.

Tariffs are taxes paid by importers on foreign goods, so the 25 per cent tariff will be paid by American firms who bring Chinese goods into the country. The US imposed a 10 per cent tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods - including fish, handbags, clothing and footwear - last year.

China's Ministry of Commerce said, "China expresses deep regret over the development and will have to take necessary countermeasures". "We hope the US will meet us halfway, and work with us to resolve existing issues through cooperation and consultation," it added.

A Chinese delegation led by Beijing's top trade negotiator Vice Premier Liu He arrived in Washington on Thursday for the latest round of trade talks.

Under the current circumstances, Liu said he "hopes to engage in rational and candid exchanges with the US side," he was quoted as saying by China's state-run Xinhua news agency. Talks between the two sides will resume in Washington on Friday.

The American Apparel and Footwear Association estimated that a 25 per cent tariff on apparel imports would increase costs for a family of four by $500 a year.

'US, China were very close to trade deal'

The US and China were getting "very close" to a deal but Beijing began renegotiations, President Donald Trump has said even as the world's two largest economies seems nowhere near an agreement to end their bruising trade war. Trump said, "We were getting very close to a deal, then they started to renegotiate the deal." "We cannot have that. So, our country can take in $120 billion a year in tariffs, paid for mostly by China, by the way not by us... Businesses will pour back into our country... it'll be old fashion way, the way we used to do it. We made our own product," he said, defending his decision.

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