BEIJING — China responded to President Trump’s new tariffs by threatening tariffs of its own on 106 U.S. products, including soybeans, cars and some airplanes, in the latest escalation of what risks becoming a tit-for-tat trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
Under the plan announced Wednesday, Beijing would slap 25 percent levies on a range of U.S. goods worth about $50 billion. Chinese officials did not set a date for implementation, saying that what happens next will depend on whether the U.S. president pushes ahead with his tariff plans.
Even with the tariffs not yet in place, the news had an immediate impact on markets. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was down about 2 percent at the opening bell.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 2.2 percent, and South Korea’s main exchange was down more than 1 percent. In Europe, all major markets opened lower.
Soybeans on the Chicago Board of Trade immediately dropped as much as 5.3 percent, while wheat and corn futures also slid, Bloomberg reported.
The Chinese announcement came a day after the White House unveiled plans for tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports across 1,300 categories, with 25 percent levies on Chinese goods ranging from electronics, aerospace and machinery to phones, shoes and furniture.
Though a response from Beijing was widely expected, the speed of the announcement came as a surprise, deepening fears of a rapid escalation.
At a news conference Wednesday, Chinese officials did little to stem talk of “war” but stressed that Beijing is willing to work with the White House.
“If someone wants a trade war, we will fight to the end. If someone wants to talk, our door is open,” said Wang Shouwen, vice minister of commerce.
Zhu Guangyao, vice minister of finance, said both sides were “showing their swords and making demands” but needed to get back to the negotiating table.
Trump tweeted his own take on the news. “We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S.,” he wrote, “Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue!”
He later added: “When you’re already $500 Billion DOWN, you can’t lose!”
Trump’s figure did not factor in U.S. exports to China. According to U.S. government figures, the trade deficit in goods between the two countries in 2017 was about $375 billion. When services are included, the overall U.S. trade deficit with China was about $336 billion.
Though the dollar amounts targeted by both sides are similar — $50 billion — the focus on U.S. soybean exports by China could have a particularly big impact on the United States.
Soybeans are the top U.S. agricultural export to China, and U.S. soybean farmers and their allies fought hard to prevent the tariffs — something Zhu noted in the news conference.
The current U.S. ambassador to China, Terry Branstad, is the former governor of Iowa, a state that could be hit hard. In March, representatives from the Iowa Soybean Association visited him in China to plead their case, according to a Chinese report.
Christopher Balding, an associate professor at the HSBC Business School in Shenzhen, said that comparing the U.S. and Chinese lists showed China’s willingness to target products such as soybeans, automobiles and planes that could create political problems for Trump.
“Even though the numbers between China and the U.S. are comparable, it seems clear that China is trying to twist the knife,” he said, “This is a warning that ‘we are willing to fight harder and inflict more pain that you are.’”
The goal may be to get U.S. voters to stop Trump from pressing ahead. Farm states generally backed Trump in the 2016 election, and their exports could be hurt.
“China is stirring up U.S. farmers to put pressure on the White House,” said Shen Dingli, deputy dean of the Institute of International Affairs at Shanghai’s Fudan University.
Wednesday’s announcement means there are now two U.S.-China trade battles playing out.
In late March, the United States announced steel and aluminum tariffs that would penalize China to the tune of about $3 billion a year. On Monday, China returned fire by imposing similar measures on $3 billion worth of U.S. pork, fruit and other items.
Then, on Tuesday, the White House went ahead with tariffs that target manufacturing technology, arguing that Chinese trade practices have unfairly hurt U.S. business.
Trump has argued that the Chinese government forces U.S. companies to surrender proprietary technology to gain access to the Chinese market, resulting in the theft of trade secrets.
But critics say the U.S. president’s protectionist trade moves will hurt the global supply chains of U.S. companies and could lead to higher prices for U.S. consumers.
The question now is if Trump will move ahead with the tariffs as announced or change course, potentially going to the table.
Shi Yinhong, a professor of international affairs at Renmin University in Beijing, said that China’s move has signaled the country’s willingness to go “tit for tat” in a trade war.
Today’s move is “a rising wind that foretells a storm,” he said, adding that whether that storm comes “depends on President Trump.”
Luna Lin, Amber Ziye Wang and Yang Liu contributed from Beijing.
Terrified employees fled as gunfire rang out at YouTube’s sprawling headquarters in San Bruno, California, on Tuesday, prompting a massive police response and evacuation as victims were transported to nearby hospitals. San Bruno police identified the suspect late Tuesday as Nasim Najafi Aghdam, 39, who was found dead from what authorities believe is a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said three people were transported to local hospitals with gunshot wounds.
His department said it is working to identify a motive for the shooting. Earlier reports indicated the suspect may have known one of the victims, but police said late Tuesday that “at this time there is no evidence that the shooter knew the victims of this shooting or that individuals were specifically targeted.”
Barberini said police arrived on scene at 12:48 p.m. local time and encountered frantic employees fleeing the building. “It was very chaotic as you can imagine,” he said.
Nasim Najafi Aghdam
Responding officers encountered one victim with a gunshot wound toward the front of the building before finding the deceased suspect, Barberini said. Several minutes later, police located two additional victims at an adjacent building.
Barberini later said the suspect used a handgun and there was no further threat to the community.
San Bruno police investigate motive
Police said they are investigating the motive for the shooting, but Aghdam’s videos and website are filled with criticism of YouTube. Sources said she initially asked for one of the male victims by name, and that she used 9mm handgun during the shooting.
Jaclyn Schildkraut, an expert on mass shootings research and assistant professor at the State University of New York (SUNY), told CBS News it was “very uncommon” to see a female suspect carry out this type of shooting.
Women made up of only four percent of mass shooting suspects in the U.S. between 1966 and 2016, Schildkraut said. However, Tuesday’s shooting might not fit the definition of a mass shooting. The Gun Violence Archive defines it as four or more people shot or killed — excluding the shooter.
Suspect criticized YouTube
The suspect’s father, Ismail Aghdam, told CBS Los Angeles his daughter had gone missing for several days, and that he called police because he was concerned over her recent anger at YouTube. He said police eventually found his daughter and said she was in a car in Mountain View, about 28 miles south of San Bruno.
When the family realized she was close to YouTube’s headquarters, they told police she said the company was “ruining her life.” He said police told the family they would keep an eye on her. The family believes she did not know anyone at YouTube personally.
A Mountain View Police spokesperson confirmed to CBS News that they located a woman by the same name asleep inside a car early Tuesday. They confirmed that this was a missing person from Southern California and had notified her family.
Ismail Aghdam told Mercury News his daughter was angry because the company stopped paying for content she posted online.
Her website accuses “new closed-minded” YouTube employees of reducing her view count, suppressing her and discouraging her from creating content on the video platform. In a now-deleted video, she complained that YouTube began filtering her page and adding age restrictions her videos.
Shooting at YouTube headquarters wounds several
Female suspect died from self-inflicted gunshot wound and several others wounded Tue., April 3, 2018, in San Bruno, Calif.
Hospital update on victims
A spokesman for San Francisco General Hospital told CBS News it has received three patients: a 36-year-old man in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition.
Heavily armed police surrounded the facility, with armed SWAT vehicles stationed outside. Police officers could be seen patting down employees evacuating the campus to a nearby parking lot, where they were surrounded by police cars.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said President Trump has been briefed on the shooting and they are “monitoring the ongoing situation.”
Mr. Trump tweeted his “thoughts and prayers” to everyone involved.
Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTube’s HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene.
The FBI and San Francisco Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said it was responding to the scene.
Several employees tweeted they heard gunfire Tuesday afternoon. Vadim Lavrusik said he barricaded himself and others inside a room before they were able to escape safely.
Active shooter at YouTube HQ. Heard shots and saw people running while at my desk. Now barricaded inside a room with coworkers.
Google, YouTube’s parent company, said in a statement that they are “coordinating with authorities and will provide official information here from Google and YouTube as it becomes available.”
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the company is doing everything it can to support the victims and their families.
“I know a lot of you are in shock right now. Over the coming days, we will continue to provide support to help everyone in our Google family heal from this unimaginable tragedy,” Pichai said in a statement.
Where is San Bruno?
YouTube’s headquarters is about 12 miles south of downtown San Francisco, close to San Francisco International Airport. It encompasses about 200,000 square feet, and YouTube leases the building from Gap, Inc., according to a 2017 article in the San Francisco Business Times.
Google says there are more than 1,100 employees at the office and that YouTube is San Bruno’s largest employer, with a variety of people dedicated engineering and sales. About 43,000 residents live in the city.
The owner of a nearby restaurant told CBS News he was outside smoking a cigarette when he heard several pops. Denny, who didn’t want to give his last name, said there was a brief pause in the gunfire before it continued. He said he heard a total of about 15 to 17 shots.
“It went on for awhile, those shots, it wasn’t like emptying the clip like ‘boom boom boom,’ it was more of a slower pace,” Denny said.
