China’s exports last month surged more than expected, despite fresh US duties, and its closely watched surplus with the US remained near record highs, as Washington finalized its new tariff list.
In the latest move by US President Donald Trump to put pressure on Beijing to negotiate trade concessions, Washington is set to begin collecting 25 percent tariffs on another US$16 billion in Chinese goods on Aug. 23.
China has repeatedly said it would strike back and has already begun enforcing or is getting ready to enforce its own retaliatory tariffs, saying that the US is threatening the global free-trade order with its protectionism.
Photo: AFP
The headline numbers are the first reading of China’s overall trade picture since US duties on US$34 billion of Chinese imports came into effect on July 6.
China’s surplus with the US last month shrank marginally to US$28.09 billion from a record US$28.97 billion in June.
Still, disagreements between the two nations run deeper than just the trade balance — tensions remain over market access, intellectual property, technology transfer and investment.
A weaker yuan, which marked its worst four-month fall on record between April and last month, might have taken the sting out of 25 percent tariffs on US$34 billion exports to the US.
However, analysts still expect a less favorable trade balance for China in the coming months given that the brawl is in its early days.
“Looking ahead, we expect export growth to cool in the coming months, although this will primarily reflect softer global growth rather than US tariffs, the direct impact of which will continue to be mostly offset by the renminbi’s [yuan’s] recent depreciation,” Capital Economics senior China economist Julian Evans-Pritchard wrote in a note.
Chinese state media has said China would not be cowed in the face of US threats.
The latest commentary by Xinhua news agency yesterday took a softer line after resorting to personal attacks against Trump earlier in the week, saying that China could get through the storm, but refrained from directly mentioning the US president.
All of China’s main state newspapers published the commentary titled “Declaration” on their front pages.
“Certain people go against the tide for their own private ends and go against morality; the barrier of tariffs wantonly rise and the stick of hegemony is raised all around,” the commentary said.
“Although this may for a moment bring preening with delight, it will make it hard to resolve economic imbalances or out-of-kilter politics and other deep-rooted problems,” it added.
The latest US$16 billion list from the US would hit semiconductors from China, even though many of the basic chips in these products originate from Taiwan, the US or South Korea.
Semiconductor Industry Association president and CEO John Neuffer said in a statement that it is disappointed and puzzled why semiconductors remain on the final tariff list.
“We have made the case to the administration, in the strongest possible terms, that tariffs imposed on semiconductors imported from China will hurt America’s chipmakers, not China’s, and will do nothing to stop China’s problematic and discriminatory trade practices,” he said.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary