Canada, Greenland, Mexico, etc - USA Tariffs / Trade War commencing March 2025 #4

[Charlot123]

China fires back with fresh 50% tariff in stern rebuke to Trump’s escalation

Matching blows with Washington, Beijing’s tariff hike brings the accumulative tariff total to 84% on goods from US, as trade war rapidly intensifies.

www.scmp.com

China fires back with fresh 50% tariff in stern rebuke to Trump’s escalation​

Matching blows with Washington, Beijing’s tariff hike brings the accumulative tariff total to 84% on goods from US, as trade war rapidly intensifies.​

​

Frank Tangin BeijingandFrank Chenin Shanghai​

Published: 7:06pm, 9 Apr 2025Updated: 10:46pm, 9 Apr 2025​

​

China will impose additional 50 per cent tariffs on all American imports in response to a similar level of tariff increases on its goods from US President Donald Trump, marking what threatens to be an end to normalised trade relations between the world’s two biggest economies.​

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At the same time, the world’s second-largest economy pledged to release new supportive policies in a timely manner amid external shocks.​

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Beijing’s move marked a clear signal that it would resolutely defend its interests and fight to the end, analysts warned as the tit-for-tat retaliation and the high tariffs risk a further decoupling with the US.​

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( this was the directive on Wednesday, Beijing time.. and that tariff begins to day, Beijing time.... that's the USA Wednesday,, )​

​

Tariff-wagging contest.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

Tariff-wagging contest.

Wait, I thought they took some kind of bait?

 

[indicolite22]

Martha Stewart went to prison for insider trading.
But I'm guessing no one in the admin (or their insiders) will be charged. Yet they are yanking the market up and down.
I can only hope there will an investigation one day (presuming that the USA will still be a democracy, which I suspect they won't be.). All JMO, of course.

I won't be surprised if he's not held responsible. He got away with inciting an insurrection, trying to overturn an election with a fake elector scheme. And they let him crash the economy out of spite.

 

[Kemug]

If anything, I think this destabilizing this entire tarriff BS. Sure, some smaller countries may beg forgiveness, and hopefully Lesotho and Botswanna would be reprived. However, the entire EU now knows that nothing is sure at this point, and have no reason to captulate to him.

I assume the next increase will be 1000%.

I'm not sure he can count that far.

 

[Trooper]

These 75 countries that Trump says have rung him saying ' please sir.. we'll do anything'... The White House has , so far refused to name these countries... It would be easier to name the countries that would not ring Trump under any circumstances.... Mexico, South Africa, Canada, Panama , Ireland, Australia, France, Germany, Spain , Italy, New Zealand, China, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Guatemala, Kenya, Botswana,...and so on.

An Awful lot of countries can wait this out, but the USA cannot. It's as if Trump has aimed a gun at his own head .... Trump has not the time to maintain the momentum .. He is up against the most powerful and largest banks in the world, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China , The Agricultural Bank of China. ..JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, China Construction Bank .

The unemployment rate in the USA will rise exponentially... ( last night, somebody dropped a hell of a lot of Treasury Bonds, and disrupted the market place... Some one in Japan, or Hong Kong , or China )

The old saying, ..''' when the tide goes out, we see who is swimming nekkid .. is where this whole shebang is headed.

David Frump says Trump wants the abolition of Canada.. that is his aim, stated many times, and for Canada they can, and will fight this with everything they have.... the stakes are big for them.

For Trump , his stake is only trying to be the biggest jerk in the world.

What is at stake for everyone is how to stop the USA and whomsoever is President from doing this same thing again.

 

[Lilibet]

Remember after Trump won in 2016 and commentators were saying Trump would “pivot” and become “more presidential”? Ha! Now we wish he’d become more sane, and we know that will never happen. I knew it would be bad, but it’s been unbelievable since Jan. 20. When you add everything up, the U.S. is now an authoritarian country and getting worse. And don’t be thinking that if Trump croaks in office that Vance will be any better. Who’d have thunk this would happen to the U.S. so quickly.

I hope all of you in other countries will be able to overcome the havoc he’s wreaking.

JMO

 

[SouthAussie]

And where is the WTO in all of this?

What is most important is the first two sentences after the dates.

Quote:
As noted, after 60 days of WTO consultations, complainant countries can request a WTO panel.These dates fall on:

• 6 April – for China in respect of the 20% tariff on Chinese goods
• 3 May – for Canada in respect of the 25% tariffs on Canadian goods (and 10% on Canadian energy goods and potash)
• 12 May – for Canada in respect of the 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium products
• 3 June – for Canada in respect of the 25% tariffs on automobiles and automobile parts
• 4 June – for China in respect of the ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on Chinese goods

It is to be expected that the US will avoid a negative WTO panel ruling being formally adopted, which it can do by ‘appealing into the void’. This is now possible because there are currently no Appellate Body members, due to the US having blocked all appointments since 2019.

However, some WTO Members, including the EU, have adopted legislation permitting them to retaliate against unsuccessful respondent WTO members in such circumstances. It would further be expected that the EU, at least, would retaliate against the US should it be successful in any WTO proceedings. This is not however necessarily the case for other WTO members, including China and Canada.

Trump’s tariffs: WTO consultations requested by China, Canada and the European Union

Introduction In this briefing, we analyse how China, Canada, and the EU have responded to the tariffs which President Donald Trump has imposed by commen...

riskandcompliance.freshfields.com

 

[SouthAussie]

(RSBM)

Let's not forget that Putin has not had to lift one finger to facilitate the start of the destruction of the US economic power.

Putin helped put Trump in the WH (imo) ... then just sat back and let 'Trump chaos' reign.

This entire article is very interesting, and worth reading. imo
It also speaks of the Russian psychological assessment of Trump.

Kremlin papers appear to show Putin’s plot to put Trump in White House​

Vladimir Putin personally authorised a secret spy agency operation to support a “mentally unstable” Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election during a closed session of Russia’s national security council, according to what are assessed to be leaked Kremlin documents.

The key meeting took place on 22 January 2016, the papers suggest, with the Russian president, his spy chiefs and senior ministers all present.

They agreed a Trump White House would help secure Moscow’s strategic objectives, among them “social turmoil” in the US and a weakening of the American president’s negotiating position.

Kremlin papers appear to show Putin’s plot to put Trump in White House

Exclusive: Documents suggest Russia launched secret multi-agency effort to interfere in US democracy

www.theguardian.com

 

[Trooper]

Remember after Trump won in 2016 and commentators were saying Trump would “pivot” and become “more presidential”? Ha! Now we wish he’d become more sane, and we know that will never happen. I knew it would be bad, but it’s been unbelievable since Jan. 20. When you add everything up, the U.S. is now an authoritarian country and getting worse. And don’t be thinking that if Trump croaks in office that Vance will be any better. Who’d have thunk this would happen to the U.S. so quickly.

I hope all of you in other countries will be able to overcome the havoc he’s wreaking.

Vance is more terrifying, he has absolutely no control over his own tongue.. a tremendous handicap and increasingly , more unhinged, , he'll say anything.. no boundaries, he thinks this is strength, but it is pathetically weak, and will , in the end lead him into his own downfall.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

These 75 countries that Trump says have rung him saying ' please sir.. we'll do anything'... The White House has , so far refused to name these countries...

Snipped for focus

"I met her at summer camp. She lives in Europe. So you wouldn't know her anyway."

 

[Kemug]

Yes, it is truly terrifying that even if Trump "croaked" tomorrow, we would be left with Vance, who finds even pretending to be pleasant and charming quite beyond him.

 

[HmmMysterious]

Vance is more terrifying, he has absolutely no control over his own tongue.. a tremendous handicap and increasingly , more unhinged, , he'll say anything.. no boundaries, he thinks this is strength, but it is pathetically weak, and will , in the end lead him into his own downfall.

Vance is an annoying, arrogant prick who thinks he's smart. Unlike Trump, he lacks charisma and the whole MAGA movement will fall apart if Vance takes over.

 

[Kemug]

Well, there's a glimmer of hope anyway!

 

[Trooper]

Right now, there are US mercantile ships docking at Shanghai, or Shenzhen or Tianjin or HongKong or Xiamen... all huge commercial shipping ports .. rivals to Singapore in their ability to do a quick turn around of freight.. Unless the ships captain has been told to turn around 2 days out of China , with a shipful of goods from America, that captain is going to have to calculate the tariff he has to pay on behalf of the Port of Los Angeles, or San Diego, or Portland or Seattle and fork over the money to Chinese Customs... big buckets of money.

Then the captain has to hope his employer sends him credit to pay to fuel his ship up and pay wages, and, most likely.. he won't be having return freight to ship back to the USA.. China would have onsold his 'former cargo' to someone else.. It will have been an expensive cargo run ..

 

[Trooper]

Additionally, there will be flights who have already landed, at , say, Beijing Capitol International, or Chep Lak Kok( Hong Kong) with valuable cargo, and the pilot and first officer are still arguing their case that when they LEFT Chicago it was still Wednesday for them!! Air America and United trying to persuade the Chinese to let them slide just this once.... No sale, your VP should not have called us peasants!!!

 

[Kemug]

So how does Vance refer to the billions of Indian workers? Are they also peasants? If he does and I were his wife, I would leave him bleeding on the floor as I left forever.

 

[Yellowbelly]

Right now, there are US mercantile ships docking at Shanghai, or Shenzhen or Tianjin or HongKong or Xiamen... all huge commercial shipping ports .. rivals to Singapore in their ability to do a quick turn around of freight.. Unless the ships captain has been told to turn around 2 days out of China , with a shipful of goods from America, that captain is going to have to calculate the tariff he has to pay on behalf of the Port of Los Angeles, or San Diego, or Portland or Seattle and fork over the money to Chinese Customs... big buckets of money.

Then the captain has to hope his employer sends him credit to pay to fuel his ship up and pay wages, and, most likely.. he won't be having return freight to ship back to the USA.. China would have onsold his 'former cargo' to someone else.. It will have been an expensive cargo run ..

Technical point. In my day job I work for one of the UK's largest food manufacturing companies in the department responsible for importing ingredients into the country, so if I have something I might call 'professional expertise', it's probably this area. It isn't the captain of the ship who pays the tariff when he gets to port. He's just there to drive the boat. The tariff is paid by the 'importer of record', which will be the American company that has bought the goods from China. They will have to pay this when they make their declaration to US Customs, usually a few days before the ship makes port. The same is also true vice versa, of course.

Your basic point is correct, though. There will be goods currently chugging their way across the Pacific in both directions that had one tariff rate when they were loaded onto the vessel, and an enormously different tariff rate when the importers have to declare the cargo to customs.

 

[Trooper]

Technical point. In my day job I work for one of the UK's largest food manufacturing companies in the department responsible for importing ingredients into the country, so if I have something I might call 'professional expertise', it's probably this area. It isn't the captain of the ship who pays the tariff when he gets to port. He's just there to drive the boat. The tariff is paid by the 'importer of record', which will be the American company that has bought the goods from China. They will have to pay this when they make their declaration to US Customs, usually a few days before the ship makes port. The same is also true vice versa, of course.

Your basic point is correct, though. There will be goods currently chugging their way across the Pacific in both directions that had one tariff rate when they were loaded onto the vessel, and an enormously different tariff rate when the importers have to declare the cargo to customs.

Would not surprise me if the 'importer of record' refused to accept the goods, under the delicate advice of the importer's CCCP delegate... they run things at the ground level..

Thank you for your invaluable insight, I appreciate it.. Keeping in mind the captain has to pay for his fuel in renminbi / yuan!! Chinese are dumping US dollars.... Wanders down to the Construction Bank of Shanghai and has to pay the big yuans for Chinese fuel.

Ditto for the aviation fuel.... bad luck ,really.

 

[Trooper]

US-China trade war intensifies as Beijing’s tariffs come into effect after Trump pause

China’s 84% tariffs on US products come into force amid market relief after Trump suspends steep reciprocal tariffs elsewhere

www.theguardian.com

Markets rebounded after Trump’s announcement of the sudden pause, after the most volatile episode in financial markets since the pandemic.


Taiwan stocks soared 9.2% in early trading on Thursday. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was up 7.2%, while in Seoul the Kospi was up more than 5%. In Australia, the ASX 200 jumped more than 6%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed 2.69%, while the Shanghai composite index jumped 1.29%.

On Wall Street on Wednesday, the Dow index soared to close nearly 8% higher, while the Nasdaq rose 12.2% to its best day in 24 years, after the announcement of the pause.

However, tariffs against Chinese goods are now 125%, and Beijing has vowed to “fight to the end”. A China Daily editorial published on Wednesday night said “caving in to the US pressure is out of the question for Beijing”.

Chinese companies that sell products on Amazon were preparing to raise prices for the US or quit that market because of the “unprecedented blow” from the tariffs, the head of China’s largest e-commerce association said.

The China Daily editorial said on Wednesday: “It is not that China does not understand what the unprecedentedly high tariffs mean for its exports and the economy in general.

“Profits of export-oriented industries will take a blow and the resulting decline in manufacturing investment and consumer sentiment will dampen economic growth. But it also knows that kowtowing to the US’s tariff bullying will gain it nothing, given that it is no secret the US is now intent on cutting China out of its consumer market and reshaping the global supply chains to serve its own narrow interests.”

 

[Yellowbelly]

Would not surprise me if the 'importer of record' refused to accept the goods, under the delicate advice of the importer's CCCP delegate... they run things at the ground level..

Thank you for your invaluable insight, I appreciate it.. Keeping in mind the captain has to pay for his fuel in renminbi / yuan!! Chinese are dumping US dollars.... Wanders down to the Construction Bank of Shanghai and has to pay the big yuans for Chinese fuel.

Ditto for the aviation fuel.... bad luck ,really.

Clearly, in an autocracy like China, what happens to goods currently being imported from the USA that are presently en route is whatever the Party says it is. At ground level in the USA, however, they do still have something resembling the rule of law, so things would happen like this. The container ship arrives at port. All the containers on the ship are then unloaded and piled onto the quayside. Hauliers working for the importers then arrive and take away the containers, but, they can only remove containers from the port if US Customs has released them. If the importer either can't, or won't pay the import duty, then the container will just sit there in the port. The port will give you a few 'free days' after the container lands, typically 3-5, after which it will start charging the importer what's called demurrage. The world of shipping is full of random charges with arcane names! Demurrage is basically a storage fee that the port charges as a daily rate for however long the container is sat in their port.

So there's really no way of avoiding the increased costs of importing something that's currently on the water heading towards America. The importer will just have to pay up and either pass the cost on to their customers, or swallow the cost and make less profit.