China ramps up retaliation as US hikes tariffs again
China escalates trade war. After the US imposed tariffs totaling 145%, Beijing announced that tariffs on American goods would rise to 125%.
The US President imposed a 20% tariff on goods from China in February, followed by an additional 34%. In retaliation, China imposed a total 54% tariff on most American goods, a move that did not sit well with the US President. Donald Trump decided to raise the stakes by another 50%, bringing the total tariffs on nearly all products imported from China to 104%. Beijing responded once again by raising tariffs on American goods to 84%.
On Wednesday, April 9, Donald Trump made another surprising move. He paused new tariffs on almost all countries worldwide for three months but increased tariffs on China up to 125%. On Thursday, the White House had to explain the amount of tariffs Americans are now collecting from China. It turned out that they totaled up to 145%.
The Trump administration clarified that US tariffs on China include both the 125% rate, which covers so-called reciprocal tariffs, and the 20% rate imposed by the US at the beginning of the year for alleged fentanyl smuggling.
China declares it will fight in the trade war to the end
Experts anticipated that Beijing would not be intimidated by Donald Trump. China was clearly signaling this.
On Thursday, Chinese authorities stated that they "will never accept extreme pressure and bullying from the US." They declared they would "fight to the end" in response to Washington's further decisions and "follow their own path" in global trade.
China is ready to negotiate with the US on tariffs, but the dialogue must be based on mutual respect and equality, stated He Yongqian, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing on Thursday.
China is also going all-out and, for now, will not consider the consequences. We have a total trade war, commented Łukasz Kobierski from the New Europe Institute on recent events surrounding tariffs.
