In retaliation for new 25 percent tariffs imposed on imported goods, including home furnishings and lighting, China has announced it will be raising tariffs on roughly $60 billion worth of U.S. goods beginning midnight (Beijing time) June 1, according to China’s State Council Customs Tariff Commission.
Increases affect tariffs on goods that were imposed last fall and have not been extended to any new categories. The new tariff rate hikes will go into effect on three of four categories of US goods valued at approximately $60 billion. China has levied tariffs on a total of $110 billion worth of US products since the trade war began.
Tariffs on the $60 billion worth of US products went into effect on September 24 last year. Roughly 5,000 items were affected, and they were split into four categories. Three of these four categories could see increases as of June 1.
- Category 1 (includes cotton, machinery, grains) will rise from 10 percent to 25 percent
- Category 2 (includes aircraft parts, optical instruments, certain types of furniture) will increase from 10 percent to 20 percent
- Category 3 (includes corn flour, wine) will rise to 10 percent from 5 percent
- Category 4 (includes certain types of chemical, rare earths, medical equipment like ultrasound and MRI machines) will remain at 5 percent.
Precipitating this announcement, on Friday, the U.S. hiked tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent on $200 billion worth of Chinese exports after trade talks held in Washington failed to produce a trade deal.