Key facts
- China announced countermeasures against the U.S. on August 5.
- Measures include tightening export controls on drones and their components.
- A national security investigation was launched into imported office printing and copying equipment.
- Six U.S. entities were blacklisted and sanctioned.
- The U.S. imposed fresh tariffs on China and 59 other countries.
- China's top trade official expressed concern to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
China announced a series of trade countermeasures against the United States on August 5, responding to U.S. trade sanctions, forced labor sanctions, and national security restrictions. The measures include tightening export controls on drones and their key components to the U.S., suspending factory follow-up inspections by Chinese certification bodies, blacklisting U.S. compliance testing companies, and launching national security investigations into imports of office printers and copiers.
Beijing also imposed sanctions on six U.S. businesses, including biotech company Applied DNA Sciences and geoscience research firm Stratum Reservoir, barring Chinese organizations and individuals from engaging in relevant transactions with them. The commerce ministry stated these entities "have assisted and supported illegal U.S. sanctions related to Xinjiang."
These actions follow recent U.S. tariffs on China and 59 other countries. China's top trade official, He Lifeng, expressed "serious concern" to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer over the recent restrictions.
Further escalations occurred on April 2, 2025, when President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order imposing an additional 34 percent tariff on all imports from China. China responded on April 4, 2025, with its own retaliatory measures, including raising its retaliatory tariff rate on U.S.-origin goods from 34 percent to 84 percent, adding 12 U.S. entities to its Export Control List, and six U.S. entities to its Unreliable Entity List.
Subsequently, President Trump increased reciprocal tariffs on China to 125 percent. In response, China announced on April 11, 2025, that it raised its retaliatory tariffs on goods of U.S. origin from 84 percent to 125 percent, stating that at these levels, U.S. exports to China are effectively unmarketable.