Today the Chinese Commerce Ministry announced 25% tariffs on an additional $16 billion in U.S. exports. The tariffs will go into effect on August 23 and target cars, crude oil, medical instruments, natural gas, and coal along with hundreds of other items..
The tariffs are a retaliation for a new round of U.S. tariffs on $16 billion of Chinese goods. Those tariffs will hit products ranging from motorcycles to railway cars. The Trump administration on Tuesday announced that this latest round of tariffs will go into effect on August 23.
This is unlikely to be the end move in the tariff game. The Trump administration is reviewing additional 10% or 25% tariffs on an further $200 billion in Chinese exports. The comment period for those tariffs ends on September 6. China has already said that it will impose tariffs on an additional $60 billion in U.S. exports if the United States moves ahead on the next round of tariffs.
The tariff moves put an end–at least for a day–to the rally in Chinese stocks. Today the Shanghai Composite index closed down 1.27%. That was enough to push the index back into the red, although only by 0.11%, for the last month.
As of noon New York time the Standard & Poor’s 500 was off 0.06%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was lower by 0.21%. And the NASDAQ Composite had slipped 0.09%.
