China’s commerce minister said U.S. tariffs have hit China Airlines and Boeing (BA.N) hard, and he hopes Washington will listen to the companies’ demands and concerns and work to create a stable trading environment.
U.S. planemaker Boeing has flown three 737 MAX jets based in China, which were meant to deliver goods to Chinese customers, back to the United States. Boeing said last week that several of its customers in China had indicated they would not accept new planes because of the tariffs, prompting the company to sell dozens of planes.
The Commerce Ministry stated that the U.S. tariffs had disrupted global trade chains, air transport, and investment activities and “significantly harmed Chinese airlines and Boeing.”
Washington has imposed tariffs of up to 145% on Chinese imports this year, bringing the effective tariff rate to about 156%. China is now facing tariffs of up to 245%, according to figures released by the White House. Meanwhile, Beijing has imposed new tariffs on American goods of up to 125%, on top of the tariffs already in place.
On April 25, US President Donald Trump tightened tariffs on China, saying he would not lift them unless Beijing offered “something substantial” in return. He also said he was unlikely to offer other countries another 90-day pause in tariffs.
Earlier, on April 23, the president of the United States told reporters that his administration would reach a “fair deal” with China and that negotiations with countries were going very well. Trump also noted that the time when other countries were lying to America and treating it unfairly is over; now, these countries want to be included and participate in the negotiations, including China and the European Union.
China responded to Trump’s speech three days later, once again denying that any type of negotiations with the United States regarding tariffs were underway, and stating that there had been no discussion of the issue between Xi Jinping and Trump.
