Trump’s tariff carve-outs for tech are ‘small step’ towards rectification, China says
Washington must make ‘significant’ moves and return to the ‘right path’
In the latest twist in a trade war that has roiled global markets, the United States said late on Friday that it would exclude smartphones, laptop computers and machines used to make semiconductors from its “reciprocal tariffs”, a major carve-out for items heavily reliant on Chinese manufacturing.
“[The exemptions are] a small step by the US towards rectifying the misguided approach of unilateral ‘reciprocal tariffs’,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said.
The ministry noted that the decision to exempt certain products was the second adjustment following a partial suspension of tariffs on most other trading partners on April 10, and said Beijing was still reviewing its impact.
It repeated Beijing’s criticism of the US tariffs, saying Washington was “severely disrupting the international economic and trade order” and “harming others without benefiting itself”.
It also called on Washington to “take a significant step towards rectification, completely abandon the erroneous ‘reciprocal tariffs’, and return to the right path of mutual respect and resolving differences through equal dialogue”.