Trump threatens additional 50% tariffs on China as trade war escalates
US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose an additional 50% tariff on imports from China unless Beijing rescinds its retaliatory tariffs on Washington, amid a flaring trade war between the two countries.
In a statement on Truth Social on Monday morning, Trump said China enacted the retaliatory tariffs despite his warning that any country that retaliates against the US by issuing additional tariffs would be “immediately met with new and substantially higher Tariffs, over and above those initially set.”
Last Wednesday, the US president announced his trade war with tariffs on its trading partners and various countries around the world.
As part of that move, the White House said it would levy a 34% tariff on Chinese imports and, in response, Beijing announced a 34% tariff on US imports.
“If China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, his own social media platform.
“Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated!” he added. “Negotiations with other countries, which have also requested meetings, will begin taking place immediately.”
China’s embassy in the US underlined on Monday that Beijing would not cave to pressure or threats over the additional 50% tariffs.
“We have stressed more than once that pressuring or threatening China is not a right way to engage with us. China will firmly safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” Liu Pengyu, an embassy spokesman, told AFP.
ABC News cited a senior White House official as saying that the increased tariffs on China would be on top of the 34% reciprocal tariff Trump announced last week and the 20% already in place.
China recently said the Trump tariffs harmed the stability of global production and supply chain and seriously impacted the world's economic recovery.
In the meantime, Wall Street’s main indexes posted their biggest single-day losses in years on Thursday.
JP Morgan also has raised the probability of a global recession by the end of the year from a previous estimate of 40 percent up to 60 percent.
Market experts believe that the ongoing "tit for tat" trade war will increase investors' fear, dealing a blow to global trade.
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