China goes ahead with tariffs on $60 billion US goods, FedEx placed under govt probe

China slapped tariffs on $60 billion worth of US goods on Saturday as previously announced in a tit-for-tat measure against the Trump administration, followed by an investigation into US-based express delivery service provider FedEx over its misbehavior on Huawei parcel.



US goods including batteries, household appliances and coffee and many other varieties of commodities are now subject to duties of 10 percent, 20 percent and 25 percent beginning on Saturday, the Xinhua News Agency reported. Those goods that already face a 5 percent tariff are exempt from the hike this time.



The escalation of the tariffs war is to create more troubles for enterprises and consumers of both countries, which, analysts say, will inevitably disrupt global supply lines and inhibit global economic growth.



Also, more steps were taken by China almost simultaneously on Saturday as the trade war with the US entered a white hot phase.



Beijing announced on Saturday that it will release a white paper on its stance on China-US trade negotiations at a press conference on Sunday.



The white paper would be the second issued by the Chinese government since a trade war between the world's two largest economies began a year ago.



The first white paper focused on the trade frictions, and the second one will focus on trade talks, which entered a sudden deadlock in early May when the US government imposed a 25 percent tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports.



On the same day, China moved against FedEx for its diverting and rerouting important parcels owned by Chinese wireless equipment giant Huawei. FedEx was officially under an investigation by Chinese authorities on Saturday, state broadcaster CCTV reported.



The US firm had rerouted parcels containing company documents of Huawei to the US. The company issued an apology for mishandling the packages.



The CCTV report said the action by FedEx has violated Chinese courier delivery regulations and infringed on the customers' legal rights.



The nation also announced that it will soon release its own rules on its proposed 'unreliable entity' list targeting foreign entities that seriously undermine legitimate interests of Chinese companies or pose dangers to China's national security.



Listed entities, organization and individuals will be subject to unspecified legal and administrative penalties in China, the Commerce Ministry said.



The probe on FedEx will serve as a grave warning to other foreign companies, organizations and individuals that are found to have violated Chinese laws and regulations, a commentary by China Media Group noted on Saturday.



China welcomes foreign companies to invest and do business in its market, but only those that obey market rules and the spirit of contracts and respect the legitimate interests of Chinese consumers stand a chance to prosper, it said.



The probe to FedEx was welcomed by Chinese netizens on social media platforms, with many demanding a thorough investigation into the case.



National Business Daily, a domestic news publication, called China's actions over the weekend multi-pronged countermeasures hurled at the US.



Global Times





