China announces retaliatory tariffs moments after US levies take effect – live | US news

Key events

Summary

Here are today’s key developments:

China on Tuesday slapped tariffs on US imports in a rapid response to new US duties on Chinese goods, renewing a trade war between the world’s top two economies as President Donald Trump sought to punish China for not halting the flow of illicit drugs.

Trump’s additional 10% tariff across all Chinese imports into the US came into effect at midnight on Tuesday. Within minutes, China’s Finance Ministry said it would impose levies of 15% for US coal and LNG and 10% for crude oil, farm equipment and some autos. The new tariffs on US exports will start on 10 February, the ministry said.

Separately, China’s Commerce Ministry and its Customs Administration said the country is imposing export controls on critical minerals tungsten, tellurium, ruthenium, molybdenum and ruthenium-related items to “safeguard national security interests”.

China also announced a probe into Google, moments after the deadline for the US imposing a 10% tariff on Chinese goods passed. China will investigate the US tech company for alleged anti-trust violations, according to a brief statement from the State Administration for Market Regulation.

And Beijing filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization “to defend its legitimate rights and interests” in response to the US tariffs.

New York attorney general Letitia James on Monday told hospitals that they would be violating state law if they stop offering gender-affirming care for people under age 19 in response to an executive order from President Donald Trump aimed at curtailing federal funding for such treatments, the Associated Press reports.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio says El Salvador’s president has offered to accept deportees from the US of any nationality as well as violent American criminals now imprisoned in the United States.

Trump announced he’s planning to appoint Michael Ellis and the deputy director of the CIA. Ellis is a close Trump ally and worked in the president’s previous administration and helped fight allegations of collusion with Russia in the 2016 election.

The Trump administration is opening new investigations into allegations of antisemitism at five US universities including Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley, the Education Department announced Monday.

The US Senate on Monday confirmed Chris Wright, a fracking executive, to be Donald Trump’s energy secretary. The vote was 59-38. Wright, 60, the CEO of Liberty Energy since 2011 has said he will step down from the company once confirmed. He wrote in a Liberty report last year that he believes human-caused climate change is real, but that its hazards are “distant and uncertain”. He has also said that top-down governmental policies to curb it are destined to fail.

The US interior department has unveiled a suite of orders aimed at carrying out Donald Trump’s agenda to maximise domestic energy and minerals production and slash red tape, Reuters reports. In a statement, the agency said interior secretary Doug Burgum, the former governor of North Dakota, signed six orders on his first day in office.

Trump has invited Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to visit the White House next week, a White House official said, hours after a US military plane departed to return deported migrants to the country.

Senator Susan Collins, a republican from Maine, said she’ll vote to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as the director of national intelligence. Collins is a key swing vote and her support brings Gabbard’s nomination close to being sealed.

Trump is reportedly mulling an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, in alignment with mandates from Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” to slash federal agencies.

Musk’s Doge reportedly accessed administration systems for the federal Small Business Administration. It has also reportedly accessed secure information at USAid and the Treasury department. According to Wired, Musk has reportedly deployed six young men to lead Doge’s efforts to access federal government data.

The Trump administration made plain its intent to merge USAid with the state department under Musk’s supervision. Employees were barred from the agency headquarters today, after the website was shuttered over the weekend. Several democrats cried foul, calling the act illegal and denouncing Musk.

The Trump administration may begin using an obscure 18th-century law to deport undocumented migrants without first going through the courts.

Darren Beattie, a former White House official who wrote, “Competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work,” is reportedly set for a top role at the state department.

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China files complaint with World Trade Organization

Beijing on Tuesday said it had filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization “to defend its legitimate rights and interests” in response to hiked US tariffs on Chinese goods.

“China has filed a case against the US tariff measures under the WTO dispute settlement mechanism,” the commerce ministry said in a statement, adding the US actions were of a “malicious nature”.

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What are tungsten, tellurium, ruthenium, molybdenum and ruthenium – the elements whose export China is restricting?

Among the measures announced by China in response to US tariffs on Chinese goods coming into effect is export controls on certain natural elements.

China’s Commerce Ministry and its Customs Administration said the country is imposing export controls on tungsten, tellurium, ruthenium, molybdenum and ruthenium-related items to “safeguard national security interests”.

Tungsten, tellurium, molybdenum and ruthenium are critical minerals – materials that are essential for advanced technologies, clean energy, and national security, according to the Australian National University and US Geological Survey.

Tungsten is among the rarest elements on earth and is used in fluorescent lamps and the aerospace industry, as well as in wear-resistant metals. Tellerium is used in solar panels. Ruthenium is used in solar cells and in electrical contacts and chip resistors in computers. Among molybdenum’s uses is in jet engines.

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Updated at 01.23 EST

China adds US companies to Unreliable Entity List

China has also announced it is adding the US companies PVH Group and Illumina, Inc. to the Unreliable Entity List.

PVH Group is an American clothing company which owns brands including Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein. Illumina Inc is a biotech company specialising in genomic sequencing, which recently partnered with Nvidia on health related AI tech.

“The above two entities violated normal market trading principles, interrupted normal transactions with Chinese companies, adopted discriminatory measures against Chinese companies, and seriously damaged the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies,” the commerce ministry said, without detailing what exactly the companies were accused of.

“The Unreliable Entity List Working Mechanism will take corresponding measures against the above entities in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.”

Listing likely means fines, and restrictions on sales and investments in China for the two companies.

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Updated at 01.18 EST

China retaliates within minutes of US tariffs taking effect

More now on China’s response to US tariffs taking effect, via Reuters:

China on Tuesday slapped tariffs on US imports in a rapid response to new US duties on Chinese goods, renewing a trade war between the world’s top two economies as President Donald Trump sought to punish China for not halting the flow of illicit drugs.

Trump’s additional 10% tariff across all Chinese imports into the US came into effect at 12:01 am ET on Tuesday (05:01 GMT). Within minutes, China’s Finance Ministry said it would impose levies of 15% for US coal and LNG and 10% for crude oil, farm equipment and some autos. The new tariffs on US exports will start on 10 February, the ministry said.

Separately, China’s Commerce Ministry and its Customs Administration said the country is imposing export controls on tungsten, tellurium, ruthenium, molybdenum and ruthenium-related items to “safeguard national security interests”.

China also announced a probe into Google, moments after a deadline for the US imposing a 10% tariff on Chinese goods passed, restarting a trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

China will investigate the US tech company for alleged anti-trust violations, according to a brief statement from the State Administration for Market Regulation.

Trump on Monday suspended his threat of 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada at the last minute, agreeing to a 30-day pause in return for concessions on border and crime enforcement with the two neighbouring countries.

But there was no such reprieve for China, and a White House spokesperson said Trump would not be speaking with Chinese President Xi Jinping until later in the week.

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Updated at 01.05 EST

China to impose export controls on certain elements

China’s Commerce Ministry and its Customs Administration said on Tuesday that to “safeguard national security interests” the country is imposing export controls on tungsten, tellurium, ruthenium, molybdenum and ruthenium-related items, Reuters reports.

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Updated at 24.39 EST

As the US readied higher tariffs on China on Monday, the White House announced that Trump would speak with China’s president, Xi Jinping, later this week. Beijing has pledged to hit back with “countermeasures” and file a legal case against the US at the World Trade Organization.

Economists have warned Trump’s tariff plans risk raising prices for millions of Americans, just weeks after he pledged, upon taking office, to “rapidly” bring them down.

But addressing reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump maintained that tariffs were a “very powerful” means of both strengthening the US economically and “getting everything else you want”.

Every country wants to agree a way to avoid US tariffs, the president claimed. “In all cases, they all wanna make deals.”

Trump had conceded over the weekend that they could cause “a little pain” in the US. “WILL THERE BE SOME PAIN? YES, MAYBE (AND MAYBE NOT!),” he wrote on social media. “BUT WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, AND IT WILL ALL BE WORTH THE PRICE THAT MUST BE PAID.”

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Beijing retaliates moments after deadline for US tariffs on China passes

Philip Wen

China has announced a probe into Google in an apparent retaliatory move, moments after a deadline for the US imposing a 10% tariff on Chinese goods passed, restarting a trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

China will investigate the US tech company for alleged anti-trust violations, according to a brief statement from the State Administration for Market Regulation.

China’s finance ministry has also announced 15% tariffs on coal and liquefied natural gas and 10% on crude oil and agricultural equipment from the US. A 10% tariff also applies to pickup trucks and large-displacement vehicles.

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Updated at 24.55 EST

China announces retaliatory tariffs moments after US levies take effect

Callum Jones

Donald Trump has fired the opening salvo of his trade war, imposing tariffs on China on Tuesday in a move he claims will strengthen the US economy, despite warnings it will increase prices and knock growth.

The US president pulled back from the brink of an economic conflict with Canada and Mexico, however, delaying threatened duties for another month following 11th-hour talks.

He pushed ahead with higher tariffs on China, introducing a 10% levy on all goods exported from the country to the US and further straining relations between the world’s two largest economies.

For exports from China, the US is also scrapping an exemption through which shipments valued at less than $800 have not faced tariffs. Popular Chinese retailers such as Shein and Temu have relied on the exemption to sell cheap goods in the US.

After a call with Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, on Monday, Trump agreed to postpone tariffs of 25% on Mexico – the latest of several delays – after she offered to send 10,000 of the country’s troops to its border with the US.

Talks with Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, also prompted Trump to postpone 25% tariffs on the country. Canada is implementing a $1.3bn border plan, Trudeau said, and will appoint a fentanyl czar, list cartels as a terrorists and “ensure 24/7 eyes on the border”.

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Updated at 24.36 EST

US tariffs on China come into effect as deadline passes

US tariffs of 10% on Chinese imports has come into effect, risking a renewed trade war between the world’s top two economies as President Donald Trump punishes China for not halting the flow of illicit drugs.

Trump on Monday suspended his threat of 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada at the last minute, agreeing to a 30-day pause in return for concessions on border and crime enforcement with the two neighbouring countries.

But there was no such reprieve for China, with new levies coming into effect at 12:01am ET on Tuesday (05:01 GMT).

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Updated at 24.03 EST

For now, analysts believe the latest tariff measures against Chinese imports won’t bite too hard, AFP reports.

“The 10 percent tariff is not a big shock to China’s economy,” Zhang Zhiwei at Pinpoint Asset Management said in a note.

“It’s unlikely to change the market expectation on China’s macro outlook this year, which already factored in higher tariffs from the US,” he added.

And that could allow China to keep its powder dry in the event Trump’s first wave of tariffs are the prelude to a bigger showdown.

The US president has ordered an in-depth review of Chinese trade practices, the results of which are due by 1 April.

That could serve as a “catalyst for more tariffs”, said Murphy Cruise, pushing Beijing to shift tactics.

“This strategy of no retaliation may change if the US imposes additional significant tariffs later on,” UBS economists said.

“In such a case, we think China may retaliate on a targeted basis and in a restrained manner, imposing tariffs on selected agricultural products, auto parts, energy,” they said.

Experts added that China could also let the value of its currency devalue, increasing the competitiveness of its exports.

Trump’s flagged talks with Beijing offer the two sides a chance to step back from the brink of a trade war that could hit hundreds of billions’ worth of goods.

“China is looking to diffuse tensions,” Murphy Cruise said.

“China’s economy is in a much weaker position this time around; it will be substantially harder to withstand a barrage of tariffs.”

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