The company logo for Boeing is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, the United States, on March 11, 2019. (Reuters/Brendan McDermid)
China has ordered its airlines not to take any further deliveries of Boeing jets in response to the US decision to impose 145 percent tariffs on Chinese goods, Bloomberg News said on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Beijing has also asked that Chinese carriers halt any purchases of aircraft-related equipment and parts from US companies, the Bloomberg report said.
The Chinese government is also considering ways to provide assistance to airlines that lease Boeing jets and are facing higher costs, the people told Bloomberg News.
On Tuesday, Beijing's top official overseeing Hong Kong slammed US tariffs on China as "hegemonic" and attacked American "hillbillies", as the world's two largest economies face off in a trade war that has battered global markets.
Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office, said in a speech that the Chinese finance hub has never levied taxes on imports and that the United States enjoyed a $272 billion trade surplus in the city over the past decade.
US President Donald Trump has increased the levies imposed on China to 145 percent, while Beijing has set a retaliatory 125 percent toll on American imports -- a move not followed by Hong Kong.
Imposing tariffs on the city is "hegemonic and shameless in the extreme", and shows that the United States does not want Hong Kong to thrive, Xia said.
The United States, he said, "is the greatest culprit in undermining Hong Kong's human rights, freedom, rule of law, prosperity and stability." "It is not after our 'tariffs' -- it wants to take our 'lives'."
Xia said the US sanctions and tariffs would not shake the determination of Beijing and Hong Kong governments and that "victory must belong to the great Chinese people".
"Let those American 'hillbillies' wail before the 5,000-year-old civilisation of the Chinese nation!" he said, adding that anyone seeking to bring China into poverty was an "enemy".
The comments were part of a pre-recorded speech at a Hong Kong event to mark the 10th iteration of China's annual national security education day.
Asia News Network/TheJakartaPost
