China has announced that it will retaliate against Donald Trump’s tariffs by raising its own tariffs on U.S. goods from 34 percent to 84 percent, in response to Trump’s own tariff hike on China.
Beijing’s Commerce Ministry wrote in a policy paper Wednesday morning that the U.S. escalation is counterproductive, saying that the Chinese government “has the firm will and abundant means to take necessary countermeasures and fight to the end.”
“History and facts have proven that the United States’ increase in tariffs will not solve its own problems,” the paper said. “Instead, it will trigger sharp fluctuations in financial markets, push up US inflation pressure, weaken the US industrial base and increase the risk of a US economic recession, which will ultimately only backfire on itself.”
Trump raised U.S. tariffs against China to a staggering 104 percent on Monday following China’s initial import tax, escalating the self-inflicted trade war. China claims, contrary to Trump’s assertions, that the trade relationship between the two countries is “roughly balanced.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called China’s move “unfortunate.”
“I think it’s unfortunate that the Chinese actually don’t want to come and negotiate, because they are the worst offenders in the international trading system,” Bessent told Fox Business Wednesday morning, and said potentially kicking Chinese companies off of the American stock exchanges was on the table.
There is now a full-blown trade war between China and the U.S., and it’s already sending markets reeling around the world, with Dow Futures plunging more than 600 points. It’s an entirely predictable result for a self-made disaster based on terrible math, with no clear end in sight.
