The tariffs are yet another chapter in a 16-year spat over subsidies for aircraft manufacturers Airbus SE and Boeing Co that turned increasingly sour under US President Donald Trump.

French exporters were hit with hiked tariffs on wine and cognac while Germany saw new levies on aeronautic parts.

“The Commission takes note of today’s entry into force of US tariffs arising from the WTO Airbus case on aircraft subsidies. As we have made clear before, we regret that the US chose to add further EU products to its retaliation list,” a statement said.

The EU is “looking forward to engaging constructively with the new US administration to resolve this long-lasting dispute as part of a renewed transatlantic agenda”, it added.

French wine and spirits exporters believe the new tariffs will cost the sector EUR1 billion in sales, with the cognac business especially punished.

In its last days in office, the Trump administration is blowing hot and cold on trade issues with the Europeans.

Washington last week suspended a plan to impose new tariffs on USD1.3 billion in French products in a dispute over a digital services tax.

source: AFP

Source: https://www.lse.co.uk/news/eu-regrets-us-tariffs-on-french-and-german-products-looks-to-biden-g9cd928u5jej529.html

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China said it filed a complaint to the World Trade Organization on Monday challenging President Donald Trump’s plan for tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods.

The announcement, from the Ministry of Commerce, came less than a week after the U.S. Trade Representative proposed a second possible tariff hike following a measure targeting $34 billion of goods.

The Chinese ministry said last week that China would immediately complain to the WTO over American unilateralism. Earlier this month, the Chinese government said tit-for-tat duties on U.S. goods took effect straight away after Washington’s 25 percent tariff on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods kicked in on July 6.

Washington imposed the tariff hikes in response to complaints that Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology.

More: Tax oxygen? Could happen as Trump threatens wide-ranging tariffs on China

The $200 billion in goods sold to Americans every year represents about 40 percent of total U.S. imports from China.

Trump is threatening 10 percent tariffs on this round of goods. The administration has already imposed 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports, prompting blow-for-blow retaliation from the Chinese government.

Trump accuses China of unfair trade practices, such as subsidizing certain industries and ripping off American intellectual property. China says Trump is flouting established world trade rules and that it must protect its own economy.

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2018/07/16/trade-wars-china-files-complaint-wto-over-us-plan-tariffs/787305002/

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang held talks on closer economic cooperation in Berlin on Monday as the two countries seek a coordinated strategy in response to the US administration’s protectionist agenda.

As part of the talks, the two countries signed a raft of commercial agreements worth some €20 billion ($23.5 billion). The deals, involving German industrial giants like Siemens, Volkswagen and BASF, come as the two exporting powerhouses are being forced into an unlikely alliance in defense of the open global trade on which both of their economies depend.

“We both want to sustain the system of World Trade Organization rules,” Merkel said at a news conference she gave alongside Li.

For his part, Li said that China would further open its economy to foreign investment. In particular, he pointed to the insurance and bond markets and gave assurances that his country has intellectual property guarantees in place to ensure that German companies need not fear losing proprietary technologies.

Alarmed carmakers

Last week saw a worsening of the already severe trade conflict between Washington and Beijing, with the US imposing higher tariffs on a wide range of technological goods imported from China. Beijing immediately reacted to the measure by slapping higher tariffs on predominantly agricultural products from the US in a bid to harm US President Donald Trump’s voters in rural areas.

Both sides are also mulling imposing higher duties on imported cars — a measure that would also hurt Germany with carmakers such as BMW and Daimler shipping a large number of vehicles to China from their production facilities in the US.

The head of the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business (APA), Hubert Lienhard, said that in the face of a growing protectionist agenda in the US, a joint German-Chinese message to the White House“could be one the of things emerging from today’s government consultations.”

He hastened to add, though, that this signal should come in the form of a renewed commitment to free trade, not a blunt warning to Trump.

But Lienhard emphasized that differences between Germany and China must not be ignored either.

“We see two different systems competing with each other: China’s state-run capitalist order is pitted against our system of a free market economy. This regularly creates problems, but they certainly can be addressed at joint meetings.”

WTO to the rescue?

The managing director of the Association of German Chambers of Trade and Commerce, Martin Wansleben, also spoke out Monday in favor of strengthening economic relations between his country and China.

“The United States used to be a good trading partner for us,” he said. “But Trump obviously wants us to lose this partner.” Wansleben added that China also needed to change its positions in many areas, “but there’s definitely more room for improvement.”

The president of Germany’s foreign trade group BGA, Holger Bingmann, told the German regional newspaper Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung that China was already moving in the right direction.

“Following a long period of stagnation, we see things finally moving again,” he said, mentioning Beijing’s further opening of its financial services and automobile industries to foreign investors.

Bingmann added, though, that other sectors were still out of reach for foreign market players.

The BGA said that “in light of Donald Trump’s protectionist agenda, China and the EU should have a vested interest in strengthening the World Trade Organization and its arbitration system.”

tr hg/jd (AFP, Reuters)

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/germany-china-seek-closer-alliance-over-trade-spat-with-us/a-44581097

The post Germany, China seek closer alliance over trade spat with US first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has faced sharp criticism from angry finance ministers of other G7 nations over America’s imposition of new tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.

France’s Bruno Le Maire warned a trade war could begin in “a few days”.

Meanwhile US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross met Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in Beijing to try to ease trade tensions.

Afterwards China warned that all trade talks with the US would be void if Washington introduced sanctions.

State news agency Xinhua said China was willing to increase imports from many countries including the US.

Mr Ross is seeking deals on agriculture and energy to narrow the yawning US trade deficit with China, days after Washington threatened to impose additional tariffs on $50bn (£37bn) of Chinese goods.

On Saturday President Trump insisted on Twitter that the US had been “ripped off by other countries for years on trade”.

He says steel tariffs will protect US steelmakers, which he says are vital to national security. Mr Trump has also complained about barriers US firms face in Europe and elsewhere.

“Time to get smart!” he added.

• Allies retaliate with levies on jam, lamps and sleeping bags
• Five reasons why trade wars aren’t easy to win
• Four reasons Trump is hanging tough on trade

What happened at Whistler?

At a heated meeting in the Canadian ski resort, the EU and Canada threatened to retaliate.

But Mr Mnuchin denied that the US had abandoned leadership in the global economy and said he had passed on the other countries’ strong feelings to Mr Trump.

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The post China Slaps Tariffs On $3 Billion Worth Of US Goods first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/china-slaps-tariffs-on-us-imports/av-43226300

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