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US Trade Deficit With China Reaches Highest Level On Record In August

REUTERS/Stringer

Zoltán Szücs Contributor
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After setting a record of almost $29 billion in June 2018, the trade deficit between the first two largest economies of the world reached another historic high this August: $31 billion, according to China’s General Administration of Customs.

Both countries have imposed tariffs on the other in recent months.

Amid increased tariffs, the exports from China to the U.S. rose by 13.2 percent year-on-year in August, Reuters reports. This is 2 percentage points higher than their rate of growth in July. At the same time, the growth of import to China from the U.S. slowed down significantly, from 11.1 percent in June to 2.3 percent.

Washington imposed a 25 percent duty on $34 billion of Chinese imports in July, which Beijing called the launch of “the biggest trade war in economic history” and announced a similar value of retaliatory tariffs on goods like soybeans, pork and electrical vehicles. In the course of August, the United States imposed another 25 percent of tariffs on a finalized list of 279 Chinese products with the approximate value of $16 billion, which triggered the implementation of new tariffs by China, again of equal value.

Tags : china trade
Zoltán Szücs