"China slams Trump’s latest tariffs as not ‘constructive’ or ‘correct’"

A threefer. First up the headline story from the South China Morning Post:

Donald Trump’s latest tariffs won’t resolve trade war, says Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi

• US president said he would impose new tariffs on US$300 billion of Chinese imports
• Adding more tariffs is not constructive, Wang says

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said adding further tariffs was not the way to solve trade frictions between Beijing and Washington, following US President Donald Trump’s

announcement that he would target US$300 billion of Chinese goods.

“I am aware of [the announcement],” Wang told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of Southeast Asian nations in Thailand.

“Adding tariffs is definitely not a constructive way to solve the economic and trade frictions. It is not a correct way.”...MUCH MORE

Also at the SCMP:

Donald Trump ‘declares war on Christmas’, as new trade war tariff leaves firms with little room to manoeuvre

And from ZeroHedge: 

Boeing, Soybeans, Rare Earths: Here Are China's Options For Trade-War Retaliation

Now that President Trump has boxed Jerome Powell into a corner by declaring his intention to slap tariffs on the other ~$300 billion in Chinese goods that haven't already been impacted, it's worth considering: How will Beijing respond to all of this?

So far, Chinese media has been quiet on the subject, even as domestic markets tumble and the yuan slides. That's possibly because China's senior lawmakers have departed to the seaside resort of Beidaihe for their annual two-week policy conclave. Typically, officials from President Xi on down disappear from public view as they debate policy.

But Beijing's minister of foreign trade has already made clear that Beijing is less than pleased with President Trump's latest announcement which, like the last one, took them completely by surprise (though it's not all that surprising considering that the latest round of trade talks barely lasted half a day.

And although Beijing doesn't have nearly as many options for retaliatory tariffs since the US imports far more goods from China than China imports from the US - and even less now that Beijing has ended purchases of agricultural products - Bloomberg has put together a list of possible options for retaliation that Beijing could invoke.

Beijing has already levied retaliatory tariffs on about $110 billion in imports from the US. Based on 2018 data, that leaves another $45 billion of products that could be hit with tariffs.

Here's what Bloomberg's economists had to say:
"Assuming Trump’s tweet becomes policy, we’d expect a proportionate reaction from China. That would mean more tariffs on imports from the US. We don’t think China would shoot itself in the foot with harassment of US. firms or sales of US. Treasuries."

But with China halting or dialing back purchases of American pork and soybeans, imports are down 30% in the first six months of this year compared to 2018. So the goods that could actually be hit is much lower.

As an opening salvo, Beijing could reinstate the tariffs on US cars that it lifted as part of a goodwill gesture, Bloomberg reports.

Mouthpieces for the Communist Party like Hu Xijin have also suggested that Beijing will likely walk away from the talks altogether should the US move ahead with its tariffs, as Beijing shifts its focus to how it should function during a prolonged trade war....

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