China vows retaliation against Trump’s $200bn trade threat

Bloomberg

China vowed to fight back against the Trump administration’s plans to impose tariffs on an additional $200 billion in Chinese goods, escalating a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.
Beijing described the latest US move as “totally unacceptable” bullying, and urged other countries to join China to protect free trade and multilateralism. China promised to lodge complaints at the World Trade Organization but didn’t detail what its retaliatory measures would be.
“China is shocked at the US action,” the Commerce Ministry said in a statement on its website on Wednesday. “To protect the core interests of the nation and its people, China’s government is, as in the past, forced to retaliate.”
The response came hours after the Trump administration released a proposed list of thousands of products on which it plans to impose 10 percent tariffs, ranging from vacuum cleaners and windshield wipers to sterling silver spoons and badger hair. The US omitted some high-profile items like mobile phones.
The news sent markets lower as stocks fell, the dollar gained and commodities slid. China’s yuan weakened.
If the proposed tariffs go into effect after public consultations end on August 30, duties implemented by the admi- nistration aimed squarely at China will cover nearly half of all US imports from the Asian nation. Some members of Trump’s own Republican party are
calling the trade war unwise while American businesses and economists warn it could derail the strongest global
upswing in years.