CCP to limit US consultants working in China amid trade war

As President Donald Trump has been imposing tariffs on China, the government in Beijing is looking to limit the amount of US consulting, legal work, and other services that can be done in China in another attempt to hurt the US economy. 

Last week, China said that if Trump imposed any other tariffs on the country, Beijing would ignore them, CNBC reported. China has instead retaliated by looking to target specific trade service sectors of the US market that do business in China. This comes as cargo volume in the country's ports has dropped significantly. 

In addition to restrictions on rare earth minerals exported to the US, China is now seeking to limit service trades, which include the travel industry, consulting, legal work, financial services, and other white-collar services. Trump has imposed tariffs up to 245 percent on Chinese imports to the US. China, likewise, has increased its tariffs, up to 125 percent on US goods. Trump did leave a carve-out for electronics like laptops, cell phones, and other devices being shipped out of China.

Antitrust probes into Google, as well as pharmaceutical giant DuPont, have also been undertaken by the Chinese government. Beijing has also put a number of US companies on the "unreliable entity" list. Getting put on the list limits companies from investing in China as well as doing business with others in the country in terms of trade.

The steps taken by China are aimed at generally damaging the US economy, as well as hurting the tech and defense industry, where rare earth minerals are required for much of their manufacturing.

The US has been running a surplus with China for years in the services industry, with travel, legal, and other white-collar work.

"Beijing is clearly signaling to Washington that two can play in this retaliation game and that it has many levers to pull, all creating different levels of pain for U.S. companies," Wendy Cutler, the vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute, said.