BEIJING, Dec 16: Beijing said Monday that plans by the United States to hike tariffs on more Chinese imports "pile errors onto errors", after Washington homed in on products including crucial solar panel components.
The moves announced Wednesday by the US Trade Representative's office cap a review of tariffs imposed during President-elect Donald Trump's first administration.
Rates for solar wafers and polysilicon are set to double to 50 percent next month, while those on certain tungsten products will rise from zero to 25 percent, in an effort to counter China's "harmful policies and practices", US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said.
China hit back on Monday, saying the hikes "pile errors onto errors" and would only "harm the interests of US consumers".
"The US tariff measures will not only fail to resolve the US trade deficit and industrial competitiveness issues, but will also push up domestic inflation in the United States," a spokesperson for Beijing's commerce ministry said in a statement.
The moves "seriously undermine the global trade order and the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains", the statement said.
It urged Washington to "immediately correct its wrong practices and cancel the additional tariffs on China", adding that Beijing would "take necessary measures to defend its own rights and interests". —AFP
