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US to hit $300 billion worth of Chinese goods with 10% tariff: Trump

US President Donald Trump speaks to the press at the White House as he departs for Cincinnati to hold a campaign rally in Washington, DC, on August 1, 2019. (AFP photo)

US President Donald Trump has said he will impose an additional 10% tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports starting Sept. 1 as trade talks between Washington and Beijing has reached an impasse.

Trump announced plans on Thursday to slap fresh tariffs on Chinese goods.

The new move consists of a 10% tariff on a remaining $300 billion list of Chinese imports.

"This does not include the 250 Billion Dollars already Tariffed at 25%," Trump tweeted.

The new tariffs, which would hit a wide range of consumer goods from cell phones and laptop computers to toys and footwear, are set to go into effect starting Sept. 1.

...during the talks the U.S. will start, on September 1st, putting a small additional Tariff of 10% on the remaining 300 Billion Dollars of goods and products coming from China into our Country. This does not include the 250 Billion Dollars already Tariffed at 25%...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2019

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Trump said the Chinese side would try to wait him out believing his successor would agree to better trade terms.

"I think the biggest problem to a trade deal is China would love to wait," he said, adding, "They would just love if I got defeated."

Trade talks between the US and China collapsed in May  after US officials accused China of pulling back from earlier commitments. Washington sharply hiked tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods and Beijing retaliated, escalating the trade dispute. A new round of high-level economic and trade consultations was kicked off in the Chinese capital on Thursday.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer returned from Shanghai this week without reporting much progress. The sides both said they’d meet again in early September in Washington for the next round of negotiations.

Trump had previously  threatened to impose 25% sanctions on the remaining $300 billion in Chinese imports, prompting warnings from Walmart and other major US retailers of a sharp spike in consumer prices.

Thursday's tweets indicated those goods would face a lower tariff rate than he initially threatened.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly referred to China as the "enemy"  who cost Americans jobs, spied on US businesses, and stole US technology.


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