South Korea's Customs Service has discovered a sharp uptick in country of origin violations for goods headed to the U.S., it announced in an April 21 press release.
China is raising tariff levels to 125% for U.S. origin goods in response to President Donald Trump's April 9 decision to raise tariffs to the same rate for Chinese goods (see 2504090043).
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations expressed concern over U.S. tariff policy but said it wants to pursue diplomacy and not "impose any retaliatory measures."
The EU announced on April 10 that it has placed its planned counter-tariffs on hold for 90 days following President Donald Trump's April 9 decision to withdraw his reciprocal tariffs on most countries (see 2504090069).
China’s State Council this week released a white paper on economic and trade relations with the U.S., criticizing the U.S. government’s imposition of tariffs and export controls and saying that the two sides should strive toward “mutually beneficial cooperation.” The white paper seeks to “clarify the facts about China-US economic and trade relations and illustrate China's policy stance on relevant issues,” it says, according to an unofficial translation.
EU member states this week voted in favor of the European Commission's proposal to impose counter-tariffs in response to recent U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum.
China raised the tariff rate on U.S.-origin goods, from 34% to 84%, in response to President Donald Trump's April 8 executive order raising reciprocal rates by 50% (see 2504080079), the Office of the Tariff Commission of the State Council announced April 9. The new tariffs will take effect at 12:01 a.m. April 10, the commission said, according to an unofficial translation.
China opened a dispute at the World Trade Organization on April 8 on the U.S. reciprocal tariffs, claiming that the duties violate the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994, the Agreement on Customs Valuation and the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. China's challenge covers the 34% additional tariff on Chinese imports that is set to take effect April 9, along with the 10% duty on imports from all trading partners, which took effect on April 5.
A senior Chinese Commerce Ministry trade official met with representatives from more than 20 U.S. companies in Bejing on April 6 to discuss the Trump administration's "abuse of tariffs" and Beijing's retaliatory measures (see 2504040024), according to an unofficial translation of the ministry's readout of the meeting. Ling Ji, China's vice commerce minister, said he hopes American companies will "take practical actions" and "jointly maintain the stability of the global production and supply chain." He also said Beijing is committed to multilateralism. The U.S. tariffs have "seriously damaged the rules-based multilateral trading system and seriously infringed upon the legitimate rights and interests of all countries," the official said. The meeting featured officials from Tesla, GE Healthcare, Medtronic and others, China said.
Canada filed a dispute consultation request with the U.S. at the World Trade Organization on April 7, alleging that the U.S. government's 25% additional tariff on automobiles and automobile parts violate WTO obligations. The request said the duties "appear to be inconsistent with" U.S. obligations under Articles II and VIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994.