WTO alarm over global trade as China products face up to 245% US tariffs

BEIJING: China on Wednesday denounced Washington’s tariff escalation after the White House revealed levies on certain Chinese goods had reached as high as 245 percent, telling the US to stop its pressure tactics and intimidation. The White House said in a factsheet on Tuesday that these tariffs were “a result of its retaliatory actions”.

According to the Oval Office, it is up to Beijing to make the first move towards ending the dispute, which economists warn may cause a global recession.

“The ball is in China’s court. China needs to make a deal with us. We don’t have to make a deal with them,” said a statement from Trump read out by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

President Donald Trump has slapped new tariffs on friend and foe alike, but has reserved his heaviest blows for China, with new levies of up to 145 percent on many Chinese imports, even as Beijing has retaliated with duties on US goods of 125 percent. “If the US really wants to resolve the issue through dialogue and negotiation, it should stop exerting extreme pressure, stop threatening and blackmailing, and talk to China on the basis of equality, respect and mutual benefit,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.

“China’s position has been very clear. There is no winner in a tariff war or a trade war,” Lin said, adding: “China does not want to fight, but it is not afraid to fight.”

Beijing’s commerce ministry said in a statement later on Wednesday it had “noted that the cumulative tariffs on some individual Chinese exports to the US have reached 245 percent under various designations”, without detailing the scope of the products affected.

“The United States has instrumentalised and weaponised tariffs to a completely irrational level,” the ministry said, adding that China would “ignore the US’s utterly meaningless tariff numbers game”.

China said on Wednesday its economy grew a forecast-beating 5.4 percent in the first quarter, as exporters rushed to get goods out of factory gates ahead of the US levies.

“The escalation happening in April is going to be felt in the second-quarter figures, as the tariffs will send stateside firms looking to other suppliers, impeding Chinese exports and slamming the brakes on investment,” Heron Lim from Moody’s Analytics told AFP. Japan’s envoy for talks slated for Wednesday in Washington said he was optimistic of a “win-win” outcome for both countries. Ryosei Akazawa, who was due to meet US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, said he would “protect our national interest”.

Carmaker Honda said on Wednesday it will shift production of its hybrid Civic model from Japan to the United States, although that represents a very small part of its global output. The rationale behind the decision “is not a single issue”, a spokesman for the Japanese firm said. “The decision is based on the company’s policy since its foundation that we produce cars where the demand is.”

South Korea, another major exporter, in particular of semiconductors and cars, said Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok would meet Bessent next week. “The current priority is to use negotiations... to delay the imposition of reciprocal tariffs as much as possible and to minimise uncertainty for Korean companies operating not only in the US but also in global markets,” Choi said on Tuesday.

Chip stocks across Asia slumped after Nvidia said it expects a $5.5 billion hit due to a new US licensing requirement on the primary chip it can legally sell in China.

Trump also ordered a probe on Tuesday that may result in tariffs on critical minerals, rare-earth metals and associated products such as smartphones.