Aug. 9 (UPI) — China announced retaliatory tariffs against the United States on Wednesday, matching tariffs imposed by Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced 25 percent duties on 333 U.S. imports worth $16 billion, a day after the United States implemented nearly identical tariffs, CNBC reported.
The tariffs target passenger cars and motorcycles as well as coal, grease, Vaseline, asphalt and plastic products and recyclables.
On Tuesday, the United States announced 25 percent tariffs on $16 billion worth of Chinese goods including motorcycles, railway cars and thermometers, set to take effect Aug. 23.
Both countries have been engaged in a months-long trade war, with the latest set of tariffs bringing the total of duties on goods traveling from China to $50 billion.
The back-and-forth between the two countries has created unrest in the U.S. stock market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 81 points last week after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would consider raising tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent.
China released trade figures overnight which stated exports rose by 12.2 percent year-on-year in July, The Guardian reported.
However, experts warned the economic situation could worsen for both countries if the trade dispute escalates.
“They’ll pretty much match what we do until they have no more levers to pull. The bad news is the trade war fears in China are escalating. The major concern right now in trade is China,” Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley FBR,” told CNBC.
