Another sign of the rising trade tension between China and the world is that the website of the Ministry of Commerce announced today that Beijing will impose a tariff of up to 37.5% on a chemical that is used to make plastics and textiles and imported from the United States, Britain, Italy, France and Taiwan Province.

Earlier, last Wednesday, Washington decided to launch anti-dumping and countervailing investigations on steel pipes imported from China, and a month ago, it also decided to impose tariffs on automobile tires produced in China. Earlier this year, the European Union imposed tariffs on screws and bolts made in China. According to Bloomberg, the China administration has been expressing its concern about the rise of protectionism for some time, and has lodged a complaint with the WTO about the US tariff on tires. The China administration is about to take the same measure against the EU tariff on metal parts.

Over the weekend, China's Ministry of Commerce was also cautious about what it thought was protectionism, especially for the pipeline investigation: "The blind accusation of dumping or subsidies on imported products from China lacks factual basis, and China strongly opposes it." With President Obama's first head of state visit to China next month, everyone will pay attention to this potential trade war that is brewing.