U.S. And China Impose Fresh Tariffs As Trade War Escalates

Last month, after the U.S. leveled tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese imports and after China retaliated in kind, Beijing described the escalating trans-Pacific antagonism as “the largest trade war in economic history.”

Now, both nations have upped the ante once again.

In the early morning hours Thursday, the U.S. slapped long-promised tariffs of 25 percent on an additional 279 Chinese products, amounting to $16 billion. The levies were imposed over what the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative calls “China’s unfair trade practices related to the forced transfer of American technology and intellectual property.”