US wants to tax 1300 Chinese products extra

- The US government has published a list of more than 1,300 Chinese products for which it wants to increase import tariffs by 25 percent. This mainly concerns high-tech products, including semiconductors, pacemakers and prostheses. There are also raw materials for medicines such as insulin and antidepressants. The total value is 50 billion dollars.

With the import levy, the government wants to punish China for the supposed theft of patents from American companies. 'This level is appropriate, both in view of the estimated damage to the US economy and to the elimination of China's harmful actions, politics and practices,' said US trade representative Robert Lighthizer.

The list is not yet definitive and there will be a public consultation procedure until 22 May.

China is threatening with counter measures of the same scale. China already announced import duties on 128 US import products such as pork and wine in response to the import taxes on steel and aluminum introduced by President Donald Trump.

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