The Latest: China-US tariff row: Virginia farmers will hurt

BEIJING – The Latest on the escalating trade dispute between China and the United States (all times local):

2:40 p.m.

A spokeswoman for the agricultural department of Virginia says the state would suffer if China follows through on new tariffs for U.S. imports.

Elaine Lidholm said Wednesday that China is the state’s largest export market for agricultural goods, and farming is its biggest private industry. So new tariffs could jeopardize businesses dealing in Virginia soybeans, pork, apples and wine.

China hasn’t set a date for new tariffs it said it might impose on more than 100 American products in response to President Trump’s plans for new tariffs on Chinese goods. It says the plan depends on when the U.S. imposes its tariffs. And there’s still time for the countries to negotiate a deal.

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2:00 p.m.

China’s threat to raise tariffs on U.S. goods could be a disaster for American soybean farmers but a boon to their Brazilian and Argentine competitors, European aerospace companies and Japanese whiskey distillers.

Regulators picked products China can get elsewhere when they made a $50 billion list including soybeans and small aircraft targeted for possible retaliation in a spiraling technology dispute with Washington.

Economist Lu Feng at Peking University’s School of National Development says that should help minimize China’s losses in the event President Donald Trump goes ahead with a planned tariff hike and Beijing responds.