The country-specific reciprocal tariffs recently announced by the US have come into effect today, April 9, as planned. The 10 percent baseline reciprocal tariffs on several countries including Turkey, Brazil, the UK and Australia came into force on April 5.
As SteelOrbis reported previously, on April 2 the US had announced a 34 percent reciprocal tariff for China, 20 percent for the EU and 46 percent for Vietnam, in order, it said, to restore economic fairness, while excluding its two largest partners Mexico and Canada for now. In retaliation, China announced it would apply additional 34 percent tariffs on all imports from the US starting from April 10. However, US President Donald Trump then threatened China, stating that he would hit imports from China with an additional 50 percent tariff if it proceeded with its retaliation plan.
According to a statement released by the White House, the reciprocal tariffs on China have been modified to 84 percent from the previously announced 34 percent. With this move and the existing 20 percent tariffs, the “stacked” tariffs on Chinese imports have risen to 104 percent.
Meanwhile, China’s State Council Tariff Commission has announced that it will impose another 50 percent tariff on all imports from the US as of April 10, following the previous 34 percent, with the overall tariff rising to 84 percent. A spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce stated that, today, April 9, China has filed a complaint under the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism against the US latest tariff increases. The spokesperson said that the US tariff measures seriously violate the rules of the WTO and that the additional US 50 percent tariffs imposed this time are a compounding error, highlighting the unilateral and bullying nature of the US measures. China will firmly defend its legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the rules of the WTO and resolutely safeguard the multilateral trading system and the international economic and trade order, the official stated.