World's 2 biggest economies take next step in what could become accelerating series of tariffs

The United States hiked tariffs on Chinese imports Friday and Beijing announced it was retaliating against American goods in a technology dispute between the world's two biggest economies that U.S. President Donald Trump says he is prepared to escalate.

Washington increased tariffs at 12:01 a.m. ET on $34 billion US worth of Chinese imports, a first step in what could become an accelerating series of tariffs.

Retaliatory measures "took effect immediately," said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Lu Kang. Lu gave no details, but the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily said the customs agency was carrying out a plan announced last month to impose 25 per cent tariffs on a $34-billion list of American goods including soybeans, pork and electric cars...

This was excerpted from the 6 July 2018 edition of CBC News.