World
President Donald Trump Threatens To Impose Additional Tariffs On Chinese Imports
The tariff will be imposed if Beijing strikes back in response to measures undertaken by the US
President Donald Trump, on Tuesday, once again threatened to impose tariffs on an additional $267 billion of Chinese imports if in case Beijing strikes back in response to measures undertaken by the United States as part of the escalating trade war between the two countries.
While speaking to press reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said that he thinks China is still not ready to reach a deal on trade.
“China wants to make a deal, and I say they’re not ready yet,” the US President said. “I just say they’re not ready yet. And we’ve canceled a couple of meetings because I say they’re not ready to make a deal.”
When the reporters asked Trump whether he would resort to levy new tariffs in case of retaliation from China, he said yes. He added that the current US trade imbalance with China suggest that Beijing has already retaliated. So far, the Trump administration has imposed tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, affecting more than 5,000 products.
Trump latest statement comes just came days after the Chinese ambassador to the US said his country was ready to make a deal to end the dispute.
“We are ready to make some compromise,” Cui Tiankai told the Washington-based National Public Radio last Wednesday.
Tiankai added that as the US position keeps changing all the time, it is difficult to ascertain what exactly the Trump administration wants as priorities.
Well, the growing trade war isn’t just affecting the two economies but the entire world economy. Recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its global economic growth forecasts for 2018 and 2019 citing the trade war. It is predicted that the global economy will grow at 3.7 percent this year, the same as in 2017 but down from the 3.9 percent which was earlier forecasted for 2018 back in July.
The U.S. economy is expected to grow 2.9 percent this year. But the growth is expected to slow down to 2.5 percent next year. China’s economy is projected to grow 6.6 percent in 2018, which is expected to drop to 6.2 percent in 2019.
