American wine, pork, and fruit now cost more in China

If you enjoy your Napa cab and Californian almonds, be prepared to pay more, as China imposes tariffs of up to 25 percent on US imports in response to American duties on foreign aluminium and steel.

Announced on Monday, April 2 by Xinhua News Agency, the levies affect 128 American products including wine, pork, fruits, and nuts worth about 3 billion US dollars a year.

The taxes were set by the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council, which slapped a 15 percent tax on 120 American goods such as wine, nuts, ginseng, and fresh and dried fruit.

Eight US products including pork will see a 25 percent rise.

However, soybean, which is a major American export to China and predicted to be a target of Chinese tariffs, has emerged unscathed.

In a statement, China’s Ministry of Finance called the move a response to US president Donald Trump’s decision to impose taxes of 10 percent on aluminium and 25 percent on steel from overseas, which came into effect in March.

But the tit-for-tat may not be over: the US president has announced that he may impose new tariffs on US$60 billion of Chinese imports over what he calls “theft” of intellectual property, fueling fears of a trade war between both countries.

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