Just minutes after the tariffs that Donald Trump had ordered for it came into force, China announced its first retaliatory measures on Tuesday, February 4. Beijing announced 15% tariffs on coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US, and 10% on crude oil, agricultural machinery and certain types of heavy-duty vehicles. It has also introduced tighter export controls on certain strategic metals, including tungsten and molybdenum, and has, as it had threatened, referred the new US president's practices to the World Trade Organization.

Moreover, China took aim at several companies: Google, against which it opened an anti-monopoly investigation – despite the search engine's absence from the Chinese Internet – and the parent company of Calvin Klein clothing, which has been under fire for months for having stopped sourcing cotton from China's Xinjiang region, as well as genetic sequencing machine manufacturer Illumina.

Beijing had warned of retaliatory measures as soon as the tariffs against China, Mexico and Canada were announced on Saturday, February 1. However, China has set February 10 as the date at which its new tariffs would come into force, despite the fact that, as the world's leading exporter with a currently sluggish economy, it has no interest in being drawn into a trade war. It has been hoping for its own turn at a quick negotiation, after Trump eventually suspended his customs duty barriers against Ottawa and Mexico City, following increasing press reports of the negative impacts his policies would have on Americans' purchasing power. All it took were two calls with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

You have 57.98% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.