China targets dozens of US companies ahead of expected Trump tariffs

China said Thursday it would add dozens of US companies to its export control list to “protect national security and interests.”

China’s Ministry of Commerce said it will impose measures on 28 US entities, and will also ban the export of dual-use items to listed companies from Thursday, Xinhua News Agency reported. the The Global Times, a Chinese daily newspaper seen as allied with Beijing, and the State-run Xinhua News Agency. Dual-use items refer to those that can be used for civilian or military purposes.

China also imposed sanctions on 10 defense companies on Thursday over military sales to Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as its own, adding them to China’s “unreliable entity list,” the ministry said.

These moves come as Beijing prepares for the return of President-elect Donald Trump to the White House and after the Biden administration expanded its restrictions on Chinese companies amid escalating back and forth. During his presidential campaign, Trump floated the idea of ​​imposing tariffs of up to 60% on all Chinese goods.

China last month He said It was investigating US microchip maker Nvidia for possible violations of Chinese antitrust laws.

However, some analysts believe that tit-for-tat actions are unlikely to escalate into some threatening action.

“Changes in immigration, trade, and fiscal policy under a second Trump administration are likely to be meaningful, but will stop short of some of the more dramatic proposals,” Goldman Sachs Economic Research analysts said in a recent report. He added: “We expect tariffs to be imposed on imports from China and cars, but not a global tariff, which may entail economic and political risks that we believe the White House would prefer to avoid.”

The Chinese action comes less than a week after it placed Sanctions imposed on seven companies in response to recently announced US military sales and aid to Taiwan.

However, Beijing’s sanctions targeting the US defense company tend to have a limited impact, as US military companies do not sell weapons or other similar goods to China.

She contributed to this report.