In the News: China-US Tariff Hikes; Chinese Outbound Deals Plummet; Goldman Set For Majority JV Control; and Beijing to Trial Foreign Investment in VPNs

Photographer: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg

China-U.S. relations deteriorate with latest tit-for-tat tariff hikes

China unveiled plans to impose new tariffs on U.S. imports in retaliation against the latest round of U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports, targeting U.S. agricultural products, automobiles and apparel. President Donald Trump swiftly responded with a tweet announcing that he would raise the rate of existing and planned tariffs on Chinese imports by 5 percentage points. He also "ordered" U.S. companies doing business in China to explore relocating elsewhere.

Existing tariffs on around $250 billion of Chinese imports will increase to 30% Oct. 1, while the new rounds of tariffs scheduled to take effect Sept. 1 and Dec. 15 on around $300 billion will increase to 15%, U.S. officials said. Meanwhile China said it would impose tariffs of 5% and 10% on virtually all remaining U.S. imports yet to have tariffs levied on them with further plans to raise tariffs already imposed, targeting a total of $75 billion of U.S. imports with these latest retaliatory measures. They will come into effect on the same dates that the two new rounds of U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports are also scheduled to come into effect, Sept. 1 and Dec. 15.