China has hit back at Donald Trump’s trade tariffs by imposing its own on multiple US products, launching new trade measures, and opening an investigation into Google.
China’s Ministry of Commerce announced on Tuesday that it would implement a 15% tariff on US coal and liquified natural gas products and a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery, and large-displacement cars. The tariffs would take effect next Monday.
It comes after the US president ordered a 10% tariff on Chinese imports which came into effect on Tuesday, though Trump planned to talk with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the next few days.
“The US’s unilateral tariff increase seriously violates the rules of the World Trade Organisation,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.
“It is not only unhelpful in solving its own problems, but also damages normal economic and trade cooperation between China and the US.”
Though the US is the biggest exporter of liquid natural gas (LNG) globally, it does not export much to China.
In 2023, the US shipped 173,247 million cubic feet of LNG to China, representing about 2.3% of total natural gas exports, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation announced on Tuesday that it is investigating Google for suspected antitrust violations. The statement did not mention tariffs, but it came just minutes after Trump’s 10% tariffs took effect.
Alongside tariffs, China imposed export controls on several elements critical to the production of modern high-tech products, including tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, molybdenum, and indium.
Many of these are classified by the US Geological Survey as critical minerals, which are essential to America’s economy and national security and have supply chains vulnerable to disruption.
These measures add to export controls China already enforced in December 2024 on key elements like gallium, which is used in manufacturing.
Philip Luck, an economist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and former State Department official, said at a panel discussion on Monday: “They (China) have a much more developed export control regime.
“We depend on them for a lot of critical minerals: gallium, germanium, graphite, and a host of others.
“So … they could put some significant harm on our economy.”
The Commerce Ministry also added two US companies to its unreliable entities list: PVH Group, which owns Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, and biotechnology firm Illumina.
The listing bans them from engaging in China-related import or export activities and from making new investments in the country.
Meanwhile, Trump paused his planned tariffs on Mexico and Canada after conversations with their leaders.
After phone calls with both Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Trump agreed to delay the 25% import tariffs for 30 days while negotiations took place.
The 78-year-old president also suggested that he plans to implement tariffs on the EU but has been less committal to applying them to the UK.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said: “The UK is out of line, but I’m sure that one… I think that one can be worked out.”
“But the European Union, it’s an atrocity what they’ve done.”
Trump added that tariffs would “definitely” be placed on goods from the EU, as the trade bloc “take almost nothing and we take everything from them”.
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