On the evening of May 13, China's heavy countermeasure measures were issued.
The Office of the Tariff and Tax Commission of the State Council has decided to raise the tariff rate on some of the US goods on the list of 60 billion US dollars that have been imposed tariffs since 10:00 on June 1, 2019.
Affected by the news, the overnight U.S. stock market fell sharply, hitting the biggest one-day decline so far in 2019. U.S. stocks fell sharply in the opening session, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling more than 400 points, and the average index closed down 617.38 points, or 2.38%. The S&P 500 closed down 69.53 points, or 2.41%. The Nasdaq Composite Index closed down 269.92 points, or 3.41%.
The value of the U.S. stock market has evaporated about $960 billion in the past week. US equity funds outflow $14 billion, the largest since January 2019.
U.S. chemical stocks fell sharply across the board
Sino-US trade frictions have escalated, chemical producers are particularly dependent on exports, and their inventories are vulnerable to higher tariffs. Stocks of U.S. listed chemical companies fell sharply on Monday.
The Dow Jones Chemical Index closed at 588.99, down 15.47 points or 2.56%. The Standard & Poor's 500 Chemical Index fell to 570.70, down 13.81 points or 2.36%.
Titanium dioxide producers led the decline, with Venator Materials down 10.3%, Teno down 7.49%, and Cosmo down 6.12%.
Other chemical companies with a decline of more than 5% were Trinseo (-6.03%), Yabo (-5.62%), FMC (-5.60%), Ingevity (-5.51%), Cabot (-5.40%) and AdvanSix (-5.15%).
More than 4% fall: HB Fuller, Cotten, Kronos Worldwide, Element Solutions, Olin, West Lake Chemistry, Eastman Chemical, Mercer, Celanese, Ultrapar Participacoe.
In addition, Dow, Dow Dupont, Leandebaser and Huntsman also fell by more than 3%.
Petroleum and petrochemical companies also fell, PBF Energy fell 6.62%, Marathon Oil fell 4.57%, Valero Energy fell 2.77%, Western Oil fell 1.46%, ExxonMobil fell 1.11%, Phillips 66 fell 0.99%.
Shares of U.S. liquefied natural gas exporters and developers fell sharply. Tellurian, a developer of Driftwood LNG export terminals in Louisiana, fell nearly 7%, while NextDecade, a developer of Rio Grande LNG plants in Texas, fell 4%.
On May 13, the US Trade Representative (USTR) office announced that it would solicit opinions on a 25% tariff increase on about $300 billion of Chinese goods and hold a public hearing on June 17. USTR also published a tax list covering 3805 products in the annex.
USTR said there was a seven-day final response period after the hearing, which meant that the consultation period was much shorter than the previous round of tax increases.
It is noteworthy that the list contains a large number of mobile phones, base stations and other communication equipment products, as well as notebook computers and other electronic consumer goods. The total value of smartphones amounted to $43.2 billion, the highest in the tax collection, followed by laptops, with a value of $37.5 billion. However, drugs, some pharmaceutical raw materials, some medical products, rare earth materials and key minerals were excluded from the list.
China's counter-measures have come
With the approval of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the Tariff and Tax Commission of the State Council has decided to increase the tariff rate on some of the US commodities in the list of 60 billion US dollars that have been imposed tariffs since 10:00 on June 1, 2019, by 25%, 20% or 10% respectively. Tariffs on items previously subject to a 5% tariff will continue to be imposed.
Among them, 2493 tax items are subject to 25% tariff, 1078 tax items are subject to 20% tariff, and 974 tax items are subject to 10% tariff. Fifty-five tax items are still subject to a 5% tariff.
Commodities levied 25% tariff include liquefied natural gas, rare earth metal ores, sodium sulfate, toluene, methanol, urea, isoprene, acetylene, disperse dyes, acid dyes, basic dyes, reactive dyes, o-xylene, m-xylene, terephthalene, dioctyl phthalate, potassium chloride and other chemicals.
Commodities levied 20% tariff mainly include calcium carbonate, tert-butanol, formic acid, ethyl acetate, dibutyl phthalate, citric acid, pigments, unsaturated polyester of primary shape, polybutylene terephthalate and other chemicals.
Commodities levied 10% tariff mainly include titanium dioxide, disinfectants, rubber antioxidants, polyamide chips of primary shape, styrene-butadiene rubber, potassium permanganate, n-butanol, isobutanol, phenol, ammonium sulfate, diammonium hydrogen phosphate and other chemicals.
Commodities subject to 5% tariff mainly include magnesium chloride, xylitol, ether, lemon oil, organic-inorganic compound fertilizer, primary-shaped EPS, primary-shaped PTFE, other primary-shaped fluoropolymers, polylactic acid, polyterephthalic acid-adipic acid-butylene glycol ester, etc.
This is the attitude of China.
At 7 p.m. on May 13
In CCTV news broadcasting,
Host Kang Hui broadcasted an article entitled
"China is ready for a comprehensive response"
International critics,
This sonorous and powerful voice
Quickly put # News Live # at the top of the hot search list.
Trade war against the United StatesChina has long expressed its attitude that it is unwilling to fight, but it is not afraid to fight, and it has to fight when necessary. Faced with the hard and soft hands of the United States, China has already given the answer: talk, open the door; fight, accompany to the end. What kind of situation has not been seen by the Chinese nation after more than five thousand years of ups and downs?
In the great process of national rejuvenation, there will inevitably be difficulties, dangers and even stormy waves. The trade war launched by the United States on China is just a ridge in the course of China's development. It is no big deal. China will firmly strengthen its confidence and face difficulties.
No matter how changeable the external situation is, for China, the most important thing is to do its own thing well, deepen the reform, expand the opening up, and achieve high-quality economic development. The next step for the United States is to talk, fight or take other actions. China has prepared a policy toolbox and a comprehensive response.
As Chairman Xi Jinping pointed out, China's economy is a sea, not a small pond; storms can overturn small ponds, but can not overturn the sea; after numerous storms, the sea is still there!