China Holds Fire on Immediate Retaliation Against New US Tariffs

China refrained from immediately responding the latest round of US tariffs, a departure from the past two episodes when President Donald Trump hiked duties and Beijing hit back within minutes.

Some five hours after Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs went into effect Wednesday, Beijing still hadn’t announced any retaliatory action. In February and March, multiple Chinese ministries clapped back with measures as soon as blanket US levy hikes took effect.

Instead, at around 3 p.m. local time, Beijing released a 28,000-character white paper on trade with the US. The document laid out how China believed it had “earnestly” implemented the ...