Beijing (AP) China announced an antitrust inquiry into Google and other trade measures Tuesday, in response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods. The country also imposed its own duties on a number of U.S. imports.
China announced that it would impose a 10% tariff on U.S.-imported crude oil, agricultural equipment, and large-engine automobiles, as well as a 15% duty on coal and liquefied natural gas products. On Monday of next week, the tariffs would go into effect.
According to a Ministry of Finance office statement, the United States’ unilateral tariff rise is a grave violation of World Trade Organization regulations. In addition to being ineffective in resolving its own issues, it undermines regular trade and economic cooperation between the US and China.
Australia, Qatar, and Malaysia are the leading providers of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which China imports in greater quantities than any other country in the world. Despite being the world’s largest LNG exporter, the United States does not export much LNG to China.
According to data given by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the United States shipped 173,247 million cubic feet of LNG to China in 2023, which accounted for around 2.3% of all natural gas export volumes.
Furthermore, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation announced on Tuesday that it is looking into Google for possible antitrust violations. Minutes before Trump’s 10% tariffs on China were about to go into effect, the announcement was made without mentioning the duties.
The probe’s impact on Google’s operations is unknown. Like the majority of other Western platforms, Google’s search engine is prohibited in China, and the company has a limited presence there. Following a string of hacks and a refusal to abide by censorship orders from the Chinese government, Google left the Chinese market in 2010.
Google did not respond right away.
Analysts predicted that China’s retaliatory actions will have a negative influence on the global economy in addition to the U.S. economy.
Their export control system is far more advanced. They provide us with many essential minerals, including graphite, gallium, and germanium, among many others. Therefore, during a seminar on Monday, Philip Luck, a former State Department official and head of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, stated that they might seriously hurt our economy.
According to Stephen Dover, chief market strategist and director of the Franklin Templeton Institute, China’s response is reasonable and well-thought-out.
The start of a tit-for-tat trade war poses a risk, according to Dover, and may lead to lower GDP growth globally, greater inflation in the US, a stronger dollar, and upward pressure on US interest rates.
Although Trump agreed to a 30-day halt on his threats against Canada and Mexico while they took steps to allay his worries about drug trafficking and border security, U.S. tariffs on goods from both countries were still scheduled to take effect on Tuesday. In the next days, Trump was scheduled to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
China announced export restrictions on a number of components essential to the manufacturing of contemporary high-tech goods in addition to the tariffs. The U.S. Geological Survey has classified some of these minerals as crucial, indicating they are vital to the country’s economy or national security and whose supply chains are susceptible to interruption. These minerals include tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, molybdenum, and indium.
These export restrictions follow those China imposed in December on essential components used in manufacturing, such gallium.
Additionally, the PVH Group, which owns Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, and Illumina, a biotechnology business with headquarters in China, were listed as unreliable entities by the Commerce Ministry. The designation prevents them from making fresh investments in China and from importing or exporting goods related to the nation.
After PVH Group allegedly banned the use of Xinjiang cotton, Beijing launched an investigation against the company in September of last year for improper Xinjiang-related activities.
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By Associated Press journalists Huizhong Wu and Emily Wang Fujiyama. This article was written by AP journalists Christopher Bodeen in Taipei, Taiwan; Zen Soo in Hong Kong; and Ken Moritsugu in Beijing.
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