China's finance ministry has announced an 84% tariff on goods imported from the US as it retaliates against new levies imposed by the White House. The hike in tariffs, from 34%, came as US President Donald Trump's 104% tariff on Chinese goods came into force. Beijing says the new charges will take effect from Thursday. China has called for the world to unite against Trump's tariffs as the country's exporters reel from the crippling new levies. "Global unity can triumph over trade tyranny," declared an editorial in the state-run newspaper China Daily, noting Beijing's collaborations with Japan, South Korea and other Asian economies. A separate piece called for the European Union to work with it to "uphold free trade and multilateralism". Beijing "firmly opposes and will never accept such hegemonic and bullying practices," foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters on Wednesday. The tariffs come at a difficult time for China's sluggish economy: domestic consumption remains weak and exports are still a major driver of growth. The sweeping nature of Trump's tariffs has also left Chinese businesses scrambling to adjust their supply chains - with most countries affected, firms say it's hard to find a way out of this uncertainty. The tariffs will shrink "already razor-thin profit margins", said the owner of a Chinese business that handles cross-border logistics for e-commerce, as well as air and sea freight. He did not wish to share his name. "Higher tariffs raise costs for freight forwarders like us, as well as for factories, companies, and sellers. It just means everyone earns less." Any tariff upwards of 35% will wipe out all the profits that Chinese businesses make when exporting to the US or South East Asia, said Dan Wang from the Eurasia Group consultancy. "Growth is going to be much lower since exports contributed to 20% to 50% of growth since the Covid pandemic," she added. The Chinese government has not announced retaliatory measures but Beijing is reportedly considering banning Hollywood films and suspending fentanyl cooperation with the US, according to Chinese blogger Liu Hong, who is a senior editor at state-run Xinhua news. But that would offer little comfort to firms like Fuling, a firm that sells disposable tableware to US fast food restaurants like McDonald's and Wendy's, said the additional tariffs will "significantly impact" its business. It noted that nearly two-thirds of the company's revenue in 2023 and the first half of last year came from the US. To mitigate the impact of tariffs, Fuling, which is headquartered in China's Zhejiang province, started a new factory in Indonesia late last year. But Trump's new tariffs have introduced more uncertainty for Chinese exports from Indonesia are now subject to a 32% levy, the company said in a corporate filing. — BBC
