MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US and China in a new round of additional tariffs; Beijing says Trump behaving as a “school bully”

The Trump administration on Sunday began collecting 15% tariffs on more than US$125 billion in Chinese imports

China and the United States began imposing additional tariffs on each other's goods on Sunday, the latest escalation in a bruising trade war, but U.S. President Donald Trump said the sides would still meet for talks later this month.

Trump, writing on Twitter, said his goal was to reduce U.S. reliance on China and again urged American companies to find alternate suppliers outside China.

A new round of tariffs took effect from 0401 GMT, with Beijing's levy of 5 per cent on U.S. crude marking the first time the fuel has been targeted since the world's two largest economies started their trade war more than a year ago.

The Trump administration on Sunday began collecting 15 per cent tariffs on more than US$125 billion in Chinese imports, including smart speakers, Bluetooth headphones and many types of footwear.

In retaliation, China started to impose additional tariffs on some of the U.S. goods on a US$75-billion target list. Beijing did not specify the value of the goods that face higher tariffs from Sunday.

The extra tariffs of 5 per cent and 10 per cent were levied on 1,717 items of a total of 5,078 products originating from the United States. Beijing will start collecting additional tariffs on the rest from Dec 15.

Trump on Sunday cited comments from U.S. economist Peter Morici, who claims the tariffs will not impact U.S. consumers that much given a drop in the Chinese currency, and called on U.S. companies to find suppliers outside of China.

“We don’t want to be servants to the Chinese!” he said. “This is about American Freedom. Redirect the supply chain. There is no reason to buy everything from China!”

Later, he told reporters that talks with China were continuing and the two sides would meet in person in September.

“We are talking to China, the meeting is still on, as you know, in September,” he said. “We'll see what happens, but we can't allow China to rip us off anymore as a country.”

Chinese state media struck a defiant note.

“The United States should learn how to behave like a responsible global power and stop acting as a 'school bully,'” the official Xinhua news agency said.

“As the world's only superpower, it needs to shoulder its due responsibility, and join other countries in making this world a better and more prosperous place. Only then can America become great again.”

Tariffs could not impede China's development, said the official People's Daily of the ruling Communist Party.

“China's booming economy has made China a fertile ground for investment that foreign companies cannot ignore,” it said, in a commentary under the name 'Zhong Sheng', or 'Voice of China', which is often used to state its view on foreign policy issues.