On the night of February 9-10, the Chinese government's new tariffs on a number of American goods came into effect. China imposed an additional 15% tariff on imports of coal and liquefied natural gas from the United States; on oil, agricultural machinery, large-sized vehicles and pickup trucks - in the amount of 10%.
The new tariffs are Beijing's response to the protectionist policies of US President Donald Trump. From February 1, Washington imposed a 10% tariff on imports from China. In this regard, China invoked the dispute settlement mechanism of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The trade turnover between China and the United States amounted to 688.28 billion USD in 2024. At the same time, supplies from the United States to China amounted to 163.62 billion USD. The United States is not the main supplier of energy resources to China. Thus, supplies of American oil in monetary terms amounted to 6 billion USD, LNG - 2.4 billion USD, and coal coke - 1.8 billion USD.
In addition, on February 4, Beijing announced the introduction of export controls on a number of strategically important resources: goods related to tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, molybdenum and indium. They are the basis of a number of modern technologies, from renewable energy and consumer electronics to military-industrial products.
During his first presidential term (2017-2021), Trump effectively unleashed a trade war with China due to a strong trade imbalance in favor of China. At that time, the Trump administration pursued a course of comprehensively tightening pressure on Beijing and comprehensively containing the PRC. Washington has imposed tariffs on $370 billion worth of Chinese goods, but that hasn't eliminated the imbalance. Beijing has already imposed tariffs of 5% to 25% on American products during the trade war: agricultural products, energy resources, cars and much more.