China announced an investigation into Google and imposed new tariffs on a range of US products moments after President Donald Trump slapped a 10% tariff on goods from Beijing, reigniting a trade war between the world’s largest economies.China will probe the US tech giant for alleged antitrust violations, according to a Tuesday statement from the State Administration for Market Regulation. Beijing also announced 15% levies on coal and liquefied natural gas and 10% on oil and agricultural equipment from the US.“The US’s unilateral imposition of tariffs seriously violates the rules of the World Trade Organization,” China’s Finance Ministry said in a statement announcing tariffs. “It is not only unhelpful in solving its own problems, but also undermines the normal economic and trade cooperation between China and the US.”
The moves from China came almost as soon as the US tariffs kicked in. It contrasts with the situations in Mexico and Canada, where both nations won reprieve from 25% tariffs for a month after reaching separate agreements with Trump. In an executive order on Saturday, Trump called on China’s Communist Party to stop criminal organizations facilitating the flow of illicit drugs.The Chinese measures announced include:
Export control on tungsten-related materials
Adding PVH Corp., owner of Calvin Klein, and Illumina Inc to an unreliable entity list
The dollar rebounded, with the offshore yuan extending its loss to 0.3% while the currencies of Australia and New Zealand, which have strong trade links to China, slid almost 1%. Other Asian currencies like the Thai baht and the Indonesian rupiah pared their gains.Google’s search and internet services for consumers have been unavailable in China since 2010, although the company retains operations in the country, primarily around its advertising business.The US supplied about 6% of China’s LNG imports last year, according to ship-tracking data.Trump over the weekend ordered a blanket levy on Chinese exports to take effect after midnight on Tuesday in the US, for what he calls Beijing’s failure to prevent the flow of illegal drugs. The orders included retaliation clauses that would increase tariffs if the countries responded in kind.
