China slaps extra tariffs of up to 15% on imports of major US farm exports

China announced yesterday it will impose additional tariffs of up to 15% on imports of key U.S. farm products, including chicken, pork, soy and beef, and also expanded controls on doing business with U.S. companies.

The tariffs announced by the Commerce Ministry are due to take effect from March 10. They follow U.S. President Donald Trump’s order to raise tariffs on imports of Chinese products to 20% across the board. Those took effect yesterday.

Imports of U.S. grown chicken, wheat, corn and cotton will face an extra 15% tariff, it said. The tariff on sorghum, soybeans, pork, beef, seafoods, fruit, vegetables and dairy products will be increased by 10%.

Also yesterday, Beijing placed 10 more U.S. firms on its unreliable entity list, which would bar them from engaging in China-related import or export activities and from making new investments in the country.

The firms listed are TCOM, Partnership; Stick Rudder Enterprises LLC; Teledyne Brown Engineering; Huntington Ingalls Industries; S3 AeroDefense; Cubic Corporation; TextOre; ACT1 Federal; Exovera and Planate Management Group.

The addition of the 10 companies comes after China last month added two firms, fashion company PVH Group and biotechnology company Illumina, to the unreliable entities list.

Separately, China added 15 U.S. companies to its export control list, including aerospace and defense companies like General Dynamics Land Systems and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, among others.

“China has decided to include 15 U.S. entities that endanger China’s national security and interests in the export control list, prohibiting the export of dual-use items to them,” the ministry said in a statement.

China’s is a major importer of American farm products, though its purchases dipped after Trump launched a trade war during his first term in office, and then recovered.

In 2021-22, the United States logged record export values to China for soybeans, corn, beef, chicken meat, tree nuts, and sorghum. Cotton exports to China also rebounded, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. U.S. farm exports to China totaled $33.8 billion in fiscal 2023 and $36.4 billion in fiscal 2022.

But China has been diversifying its sources for farm imports, buying more soybeans from Brazil and Argentina, among other growers.

The Commerce Ministry included about two dozen U.S. farm exports subject to additional 15% tariffs, including chicken feet and wings, and 711 items subject to an extra 10% tariff. MDT/AP