The U.S. trade agency has reaffirmed President Trump's plans to impose hefty additional tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese imports,... with the first wave coming into force on Saturday.
This means the United States will be collecting a 15-percent tariff on Chinese goods,... and the new import taxes will mostly targeting electronic goods.
Lee Seung-jae reports.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has reaffirmed President Trump's plans to impose an additional 5-percent tariff on a list of 300-billion U.S. dollars worth of Chinese imports, starting on September 1st and December 15th.
In an official notice Wednesday,... the USTR said it will begin collecting 15-percent tariffs on a list that contains 125-billion dollars of goods from China,... including smartwatches, Bluetooth headphones, and flat panel TVs in the first phase of the tariff hike.
The Federal Register filing indicated a 15-percent tariff will be levied on the remainder of the list on December 15th,... which includes cellphones, laptop computers, toys, and clothing.
The announcement comes as the Trump administration had previously planned to impose a 10-percent tariff on the imports.
However, Trump announced a 5-perent tariff increase last Friday via Twitter,... in response to China's retaliatory tariffs on 75-billion dollars worth of American goods.
The Federal Register did not mention Trump's intent to increase tariffs to 30-percent on a separate list of 250-billion dollars worth of Chinese imports from October 1st,... which is currently being taxed at 25-percent.
According to a USTR spokesperson,... that tariff hike will be detailed in a separate Federal Register notice.
Watchers say the trade war between the world's two biggest economies has now reached a point where it threatens global growth.
Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.