As expected, China is starting to retaliate against the US, thanks to President Trump’s imposed tariffs. China has announced today that they are launching an antitrust investigation into Google as part of their response to US tariffs. They are also planning to introduce their own retaliatory tariffs and export controls.
The Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation announced the probe into Google on Tuesday. This is over suspicions of the US search giant violating Chinese Monopolistic laws.
Now you might be a bit confused here, since Google ceased operations in China back in 2010, due to its censorship. Google services are entirely blocked in China and have been for over 15 years. But this antitrust investigation may instead interfere with Google’s dealings with other Chinese companies. Google does work with Chinese advertisers, and of course has partners in China for its Android business like HONOR, Xiaomi, and Vivo.
So far, details of this probe are scarce and were announced minutes after President Trump announced 10% tariffs on Chinese goods. China also announced that it put PVH Corp, the holding company for Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and US biotechnology firm Illumina on its “unreliable entity” list. The Commerce Ministry said that the two companies took what it called “discriminatory measures against Chinese enterprises” and “damaged” the legitimate rights and interest of Chinese companies.
China’s retaliatory tariffs include coal, crude oil and more
The government has also announced its own tariffs on select US goods. That includes a 15% tariff on coal and natural gas products, and a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural equipment, larger cars, and pickup trucks.
Additionally, China has also announced export restrictions on certain mineral elements to “safeguard national security interests”. Minerals that are impacted by this, include tungsten, tellurium, ruthenium, molybdenum, and ruthenium. These are pretty critical to modern infrastructure and technology production.
Tariffs went into effect on Chinese products on Monday, and President Trump said that his administration was planning to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping within the next 24 hours, to potentially reach a deal. China has said that if a deal can’t be reached, the tariffs will be “very, very substantial.” And the start of a new trade war, started by President Trump.
