China plans to ban Hollywood movies after saying it will never accept the 'blackmail nature' of the United States following President Donald Trump's escalated tariff threats against Beijing.
It will put more tariffs on US agricultural products like soybeans, block all US poultry from entering China and ban the import of US movies into the country, a Chinese journalist linked to the Communist party told BBC's Radio 4 programme.
US films grossed $585million in China last year, which is about 3.5 per cent of China's $17.71billion box office and among the largest share of foreign films.
A ban on American movies would cause upcoming releases like Jurassic World: Rebirth, the Accountant 2 and the Mission Impossible sequel lose out on hundreds of millions of dollars in the Chinese market.
US President Trump said yesterday that he will impose an additional 50 per cent tariff on China if Beijing does not withdraw its retaliatory tariffs on the US, which China swiftly labelled 'blackmail' and drew up plans to ban certain US imports in response.
The US threats were 'a mistake on top of a mistake, once again exposing the American side's blackmailing nature,' the Chinese commerce ministry said in a statement this morning, urging the US to properly resolve differences with China through dialog with mutual respect and on an equal footing.
'Tariff wars have no winners, and protectionism has no way out. Chinese people don't make trouble, but are not afraid of it. Pressure, threats and blackmail are not the right way to deal with China,' foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.
If Trump sticks to his plan for an additional 50 per cent tariff on China unless it withdraws its retaliatory levies on the US, total new US duties on Chinese goods this year could rise to 104 per cent by Wednesday.
With global supply chains in jeopardy, Beijing is under pressure to respond ahead of a meeting between President Xi Jinping and Spain's prime minister and a tour of Southeast Asia.
But with Trump's previous tariff increases already squeezing Chinese exporters' margins to the point of suffocation, further hikes would only serve to underscore Washington's appetite for brinkmanship and its desire to cut China out of the world's biggest consumer market as a matter of principle, analysts say.
'If the US insists on having its way, China will fight to the end,' China's commerce ministry said in its statement.
Trump said he would impose the additional 50 per cent duty on US imports from China on Wednesday if Beijing did not withdraw the 34 per cent tariffs it had imposed on US products last week.
The Chinese levies had come in response to 34 per cent 'reciprocal' duties announced by Trump, on top of tariffs of 20 per cent imposed earlier this year, lifting to 76 per cent the average US tariff on Chinese goods.
'If the tariffs keep going up and up, it becomes a battle of wills and principles rather than economics,' said Xu Tianchen, senior economist for China at the Economist Intelligence Unit.
'Since China already faces a tariff rate in excess of 60 per cent, it doesn't matter if it goes up by 50 per cent or 500 per cent,' he added.
China has stepped up efforts to shield its economy from global market turmoil following Trump's announcement.
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