BEIJING, July 10 (Agencies): China's commerce ministry said on Tuesday it is raising "anti-dumping tariff rates" for some optical fiber products originating from the United States (US), effective on Wednesday, July 11.
The new anti-dumping tariff rates for dispersion unshifted single-mode optical fiber imported from the US range between 33.3 per cent to 78.2 per cent, compared with 4.7 per cent to 18.6 per cent as set in 2011.
US companies including Corning Inc, OFS Fitel, LLC and Draka Communications Americas Inc are among firms affected by the tariff change, the ministry said on its website.
Another report adds: Confidence among investors in Germany plunged sharply in July, the ZEW economic institute said Tuesday, reaching its lowest level since August 2012 over signs that a trade war was far from abating.
"Above all, fears of an escalation in the international trade war with the United States" drove the institute's barometer based on a survey of financial players down 8.6 points to reach -24.7, ZEW president Achim Wambach said.
President Donald Trump has hit steel and aluminium imports to the US with tariffs and threatened to do the same to European cars, after the European Union retaliated with border taxes of its own on American goods.
Major German firms have also suffered from the White House's trade war with Beijing, the second front in Trump's battle to slash US deficits, as their cars built in America face new tariffs when entering China.
Investors' views of the current situation in both Germany and the 19-nation eurozone worsened, suggesting recent "good news on industrial production, industrial orders and the labour market are more than cancelled out by the expected negative effects on exports" from the trade war, Wambach said.
Investors surveyed by ZEW also saw a bleaker future outlook for the 19-nation eurozone, with that index falling 6.1 points to reach -18.7.
ZEW polled 201 financial analysts and investors to compile its monthly index.
Meanwhile, Switzerland has launched a complaint at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against US tariffs on steel and aluminum, it said on Tuesday, the eighth WTO member to start such a challenge.
"From Switzerland's point of view, the additional duties, which according to the US have been introduced to protect national security, are unjustified," the statement from the Swiss economy ministry said in a statement.
Under WTO rules, the United States (US) has 60 days to settle the issue. After that time, Switzerland could escalate the dispute by asking the WTO to set up a panel of judges to adjudicate.
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