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Trump puts 25% tariff on Chinese goods | |
(35 minutes later) | |
US President Donald Trump has imposed 25% tariffs on $50bn worth of Chinese goods, accusing Beijing of intellectual copyright theft. | |
The US will impose further tariffs if China retaliates, the White House said. | |
The tariffs affect more than 800 types of products and are due to come into effect on 6 July. | |
China has already vowed to retaliate, raising fears of a trade war between the world's two largest economies. | |
Mr Trump said the tariffs were "essential to preventing further unfair transfers of American technology and intellectual property to China, which will protect American jobs." | |
"The US can no longer tolerate losing our technology and intellectual property through unfair economic practices," he added. | |
The Chinese product lines that have been hit range from aircraft tyres to turbines and commercial dishwashers. | |
The US wants China to stop practices that allegedly encourage transfer of intellectual property - design and product ideas - to Chinese companies, such as requirements that foreign firms share ownership with local partners to access the Chinese market. | |
US ambassador Robert Lighthizer said that President Trump "rightfully recognises that if we want our country to have a prosperous future, we must take a stand now to uphold fair trade and protect American competitiveness." | |
Earlier on Friday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang repeated earlier warnings that all trade talks between China and the US would be void if Washington imposed trade sanctions. | |
"Our position is still the same," he said. | |
"If the US takes unilateral and protectionist measures that harm Chinese interests, we will respond immediately by taking the necessary decisions to safeguard our legitimate rights and interests." | |
'Serious' impact | |
On Thursday, International Monetary Fund (IMF) director Christine Lagarde warned that the Trump administration's trade policies were likely to hurt the US economy and undermine the world's trade system. | |
She said a trade war would lead to "losers on both sides" and could have a "serious" impact. | |
While the IMF expects the trade dispute to have relatively minor economic consequences - slowing GDP by a fraction of a percentage point - Ms Lagarde said she was concerned about how the fight would affect sentiment. | |
"What is more critical and more difficult to factor in at the moment... is the actual impact on confidence," she said at a news conference in Washington. | |
The IMF said the White House, which has also threatened to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), was responding to rising concerns about the side-effects of free trade. | |
"These measures, though, are likely to move the globe further away from an open, fair and rules-based trade system, with adverse effects for both the US economy and for trading partners," the IMF said. |