BEIJING -- The United States and China went ahead Thursday with a new batch of increased tariffs on billions of dollars of each other's automobiles, factory machinery and other goods in an escalation of a battle over China's technology policy.
The increases came as envoys met in Washington for their first high-level talks in two months. The meeting ended Thursday with no sign of progress toward a settlement of U.S. complaints that China steals technology and that its industry development plans violate Chinese free-trade commitments.
The delegations "exchanged views on how to achieve fairness, balance and reciprocity in the economic relationship," Lindsay Walters, a White House spokesman, said in a statement that doesn't mention further talks.
The Trump administration insists it's engaging with China and will keep raising its concerns, but a senior administration official who spoke with reporters Thursday played down the possibility of any major announcement coming out of the meetings.
The 25 percent duties imposed Thursday apply to $16 billion of goods from each side, including automobiles and scrap metal from the United States and Chinese-made factory machinery and electronic components.
In a first round of tariff increases on July 6, President Donald Trump imposed 25 percent duties on $34 billion of Chinese imports. China responded with similar penalties on the same amount of American goods.
Goods to be covered in the next round of proposed tariffs range from chemicals, raw materials and seafood to vacuums, bicycles and furniture. The U.S. could impose those 25 percent duties, on $200 billion more Chinese products, after a comment period ends Sept. 6.
In hearings this week in Washington, U.S. companies and industry lobbyists have been offering mostly negative feedback on tariffs.
While some of the almost 350 officials testifying are asking for tariffs to be added to grills, air conditioners and other products being imported duty-free -- especially firms hit by increased costs from Trump's separate tariffs on steel and aluminum imports -- most are asking for products to be removed from the list.
The Chinese government criticized Thursday's U.S. increase as a violation of World Trade Organization rules and said it would file a legal challenge.
A foreign ministry spokesman, Lu Kang, declined to give details of the Washington talks.
"We hope the U.S. side will get along with us to strive for a good result from the talks with a reasonable and practical attitude," Lu said.
China has rejected U.S. demands to scale back plans for state-led technology development that its trading partners say violate its market-opening commitments. American officials worry that they might erode the United States' industrial leadership.
With no settlement in sight, economists warn that the conflict could spread and knock up to 0.5 percentage points off global economic growth through 2020.
"U.S. trade tensions with China are more likely to worsen this year, weighing on global growth in 2019," according to a research report from analysts at Moody's Investors Service. "Most of the impact of the trade restrictions on economic growth will be felt in 2019," and any additional tariffs would be a "material downside scenario," they wrote.
The pressure on Chinese export industries that support millions of jobs adds to challenges for Communist leaders who are trying to energize what has been a slowing economy.
Factory output, consumer spending and other indicators were weaker than expected in July. China has responded by pumping money into financial markets and announcing plans for increased spending on public works construction projects.
China's softening economy has led some within the Trump administration to believe Beijing is vulnerable, which could lead the White House to escalate the trade war even further. Larry Kudlow, director of Trump's National Economic Council, pointed out during a Cabinet meeting last week that China's own official statistics for business investment, retail sales and industrial production have shown weakness in recent months.
"Right now, their economy looks terrible," he said during the meeting, which was open to the media.
Chinese leaders have promised to help its struggling exporters and ordered banks to lend more freely to them. But they have avoided full-scale economic stimulus that would set back efforts to rein in surging debt and nurture self-sustaining growth supported by consumer spending.
Forecasters say the effect of U.S. tariffs on China's economy is small and manageable for now. Credit Suisse said this month that if Trump goes ahead with all threatened U.S. increases, the "worst case" outlook would cut China's economic growth by 0.2 percentage point this year and 1.3 percent in 2019.
The International Monetary Fund's growth forecast for China this year is 6.5 percent, down from last year's 6.8 percent and more than double the U.S. forecast of 2.9 percent.
Ahead of this week's Washington trade negotiations, Chinese state TV mocked Trump with a sarcastic video posted on YouTube and other social media pages of its international arm, China Global Television Network.
"You are great," says a presenter on the nearly three-minute English-language clip, reading a letter that pays a satirical tribute to Trump.
"On behalf of doctors, thank you for pointing out the need to wean off American goods like bourbon and bacon," the presenter says, referring to products on which China imposed retaliatory tariffs.
The video appeared to have been removed Thursday from CGTN's social media accounts.
Trump has proposed another possible round of tariff charges involving 25 percent increases on an additional $200 billion of Chinese goods. China issued a $60 billion list of American products for retaliation if Washington goes ahead with that.
That smaller target list reflects the fact that China is running out of American goods for retaliation because of the lopsided trade balance.
China's imports from the United States last year totaled about $130 billion. That leaves about $20 billion for penalties after tariffs already imposed or planned on a total of $110 billion.
Chinese authorities have said they will take "comprehensive measures," which companies worry could mean targeting operations of American businesses in China for disruption.
Information for this article was contributed by Joe McDonald and Paul Wiseman of The Associated Press; by Shawn Donnan, Justin Sink and Mark Niquette of Bloomberg News; and by Keith Bradsher of The New York Times.
A Section on 08/24/2018