US-China trade war escalates as Trump grants 30-day reprieve to North American neighbours

Karoline Leavitt, Press Secretary, White House, publicly declared on Friday, January 31, in a news briefing that the US would begin imposing 25 per cent tariffs on goods imported from Canada and Mexico and a 10 per cent tariff on imports from China starting February 01. Whereas just ahead of implementation, after much negotiation and last-minute diplomacy, US President Donald Trump has made a late-night declaration to a 30-day pause agreement on his 25 per cent tariff imposition against Mexico and Canada. The decision came as the US president conversed with his counterpart in Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum. He also exchanged telephone messages with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. It pulled the American neighbours back from the verge of a potentially raging trade war.

However, the 10 per cent tariff on China still stands. Now, people have started asking the obvious two questions — what made Trump change his mind, and what will happen next?

According to the New York Times, the three countries, Canada, China and Mexico, account for over one-third of the goods and services imported to or bought from the Donald Trump presided nation. The governments of all three countries had earlier vowed to levy tariffs of their own on US goods entering their countries.

But, as the standing tariff was only imposed on Chinese imports to the US effective February 04 unless the goods were loaded before February 01, the tariff war with China escalated. On Tuesday, February 04, Beijing retaliated against the 10 per cent US tariff by plugging an investigation into Google and imposing tariffs on US products. Chinese officials have conveyed that the country would investigate the US tech giant for alleged antitrust violations and thrust a 15 per cent levies on coal and liquefied natural gas and 10 per cent on oil and agricultural equipment imported from the US.

During the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s daily press briefing on February 05, spokesperson Lin Jian remarked on the USPS decision by accusing the US government of “politicising and suppressing Chinese companies” and also shared that China is equipped to take the required measures to safeguard its “legitimate rights and interests.” Lin, however, refrained from elaborating on the thorough actions that Beijing plans to bring as a comeback.