The ongoing trade war between the US and China may further escalate after US President, Donald Trump, tweeted on 1 August the US will put an additional 10 per cent tariff on Chinese imports starting on 1 September.
This new 10 per cent tariff will not be applied to the US$250bn worth of Chinese imports which the US applied a 25 per cent tariff to in May this year.
Instead it will be applied to the remaining US$300bn worth of goods and products the US imports from China, which are not currently tariffed.
According to an Axios report, these new tariffs could affect a range of fresh produce products including apricots, kiwis, cherries, plums, raspberries, lettuce, olives, tomatoes and mushrooms. However, the official list is yet to be finalised.
In a series of tweets Trump said US representatives recently returned from China where they had “constructive” trade talks. Despite this, he said China deciding to re-negotiate on a deal three months ago and, China not buying large quantities of US agricultural products despite agreeing to were among the reasons for the new tariffs.
“We look forward to continuing our positive dialogue with China on a comprehensive trade deal, and feel that the future between our two countries will be a very bright one,” Trump said in his final tweet on the topic.
When the US last increased its tariffs on Chinese imports to the US in May, China retaliated with a range of different tariffs on US$60bn worth goods imported from the US to China.
