Donald Trump has followed through on his threat of “additional 50 per cent tariffs” on China starting Wednesday. The White House announced that this will make America’s new tariff on China an unprecedented 104 per cent.
President Trump had given China 24 hours to roll back or “withdraw” the retaliatory 34 per cent tariff it imposed on US goods, failing which Chinese goods would be punished with 104 per cent tariffs. Beijing dared Washington to do so earlier today. Within hours Donald Trump approved it.
JOURNEY FROM 10 TO 104 IN UNDER A WEEK
The US used to tariff China at 10 per cent till last month, which President Trump said, “robbed and ripped off” the US economy of billions and billions of dollars as “tariff abuser” Beijing levied a far higher tariff on US goods. Last week the US President announced his “reciprocal tariff” move – wherein the US would charge other countries roughly half the tariff that nation charged the US. For China this was an additional 34 per cent, taking Beijing’s tally to 44 per cent.
Minutes after President Trump’s reciprocal tariff announcement on April 2, the White House told reporters that due to a “national emergency” which has stemmed from security concerns due to persistent trade deficits, the US is imposing a “baseline” 10 per cent tariff on all countries. China’s basket of tariffs now stood at 54 per cent.
Now, with today’s “additional 50 per cent tariff” solely for China, Beijing now faces an unprecedented levy of 104 per cent – a near 100 per cent rise in less than a week. President Trump however, still left the door ajar for Beijing to reconcile. In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, he wrote, “China also wants to make a deal, badly, but they don’t know how to get it started. We are waiting for their call.”
CHINA SAYS “WILL FIGHT TO THE END”
Earlier today, China had responded to President Trump’s ultimatum to “withdraw” Beijing’s retaliatory move. They called it “blackmail”.
“The US threat to escalate tariffs against China is a mistake on top of a mistake, which once again exposes the US’s blackmailing nature,” China’s commerce ministry said in a statement, adding that “If the US insists on having its way, China will fight to the end.”
The world faces an uncertain scenario with the two largest economies in the midst of a no-holds-barred trade war. Neither side is willing to blink as global markets have already experienced the biggest fall since the COVID-19 pandemic.