The daily business briefing: September 19, 2018

China retaliates against Trump's latest tariffs, the Justice Department investigates Tesla over Musk's tweet, and more

Elon Musk in Chicago
(Image credit: Getty Images)

1. China retaliates against latest U.S. tariffs

China announced Tuesday that it would impose new tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S. goods in retaliation for President Trump's latest levies, which affect $200 billion in Chinese imports. The Trump administration said Monday its 10 percent levies would take effect on Sept. 24 and possibly rise later, although Trump previously had proposed setting them at 25 percent right off the bat. "China is forced to respond to U.S. unilateralism and trade protectionism, and has no choice but to respond with its own tariffs," the Finance Ministry said in a statement on its website late Tuesday. China's tariffs will apply to a list of 5,207 U.S. products, although Beijing also reduced the levels of its tariffs from what it originally proposed.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.