"U.S. Hikes Tariffs on $200B of Chinese Goods. China Says It Will Retaliate"

From Bloomberg:

• Tariffs rise to 25% on $200 billion tranche of Chinese goods
• China says it is forced to retaliate without specifying how

The U.S. hiked tariffs on more than $200 billion in goods from China on Friday in the most dramatic step yet of Donald Trump’s push to extract trade concessions, deepening a conflict that has roiled financial markets and cast a shadow over the global economy.

China immediately said in a statement it is forced to retaliate, but didn’t specify how. The move came after discussions between Xi Jinping’s top trade envoy and his U.S. counterparts in Washington made little progress on Thursday, with the mood around them downbeat, according to people familiar with the talks. The negotiations were due to resume on Friday morning Washington time.

Ahead of the talks on Thursday, Trump also said the U.S. would go ahead with preparations to impose 25% tariffs on a further $325 billion in goods from China, raising the prospect of all of China’s goods exports to the U.S. -- which were worth about $540 billion last year -- being subject to new import duties.

Such a move would take weeks to deploy. But it would have significant repercussions for the U.S., Chinese and global economies. Economists at Moody’s Analytics said in a report this week that an all-out trade conflagration between the world’s two-largest economies risked tipping the U.S. economy into recession by the end of 2020 just as voters go to the polls in the U.S.

The new tariffs that took effect at 12:01 a.m. Washington time Friday raise from 10% to 25% the duties on more than 5,700 different product categories from China -- ranging from cooked vegetables to Christmas lights and highchairs for babies.

U.S. officials have said the new duties -- introduced on just five days’ notice -- will not apply to goods already on boats headed for American shores. A 25% tariff is already in place on a further $50 billion in imports from China.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He huddled with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in Washington on Thursday for about 90 minutes of talks before breaking and reconvening later for a working dinner that broke up around 8:40 p.m. Washington time.

Though talks are set to resume Friday, some close observers said they were not hopeful for any meaningful breakthroughs. One person familiar with the discussions said that U.S. officials were unsure whether Liu had the authority to make any meaningful commitments. It was also unclear whether China had resolved the internal debates that had led to last week’s rescinding of prior commitments to enshrine reforms agreed in Chinese law...MUCH MORE