The US president has vowed to keep levies in place until Beijing makes a “deal”
The United States has hiked tariffs on all Chinese imports to a staggering 104%, escalating the ongoing trade conflict and wiping out another $1.5 trillion from US stock markets on Tuesday.
China had originally been set to face a 34% tariff increase on Wednesday, as part of President Donald Trump’s so-called “reciprocal” measure targeting virtually all US trade partners. However, after Beijing responded with a proportional 34% duty of its own, the US president raised the blanket tariff to a total of 104%.
“After all of the abuses they’ve perpetrated, China is attempting to impose additional unjustified tariffs,” Trump said at the National Republican Congressional Committee dinner in Washington on Tuesday.
That’s why additional tariffs on Chinese goods are in place, effective midnight tonight at 104 percent. Until they make a deal with us, that’s what it’s going to be.
The White House published an amendment to the April 2 executive order in which Trump declared a “national emergency” over US trade deficit and imposed a baseline tariff on all imports to the US. The US administration said that nearly 70 countries had sought negotiations to mitigate the impact of the tariffs, as Trump pursues “tailor-made deals” with individual nations.
“These countries are calling us up. Kissing my ass. They are dying to make a deal: ‘Please, please sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything,’” Trump claimed.
The president went on to say that Beijing would also have to “make a deal at some point,” claiming that “they just don’t know how to get it sorted because they’re proud people.” Until then, he added, China “will now pay a big number to our Treasury.”
Beijing has previously condemned the escalating trade war as a form of “blackmail” and “economic bullying.” A spokesperson for the Commerce Ministry said on Tuesday that “China will fight till the end if the US side is bent on going down the wrong path.”
The latest escalation has had a significant impact on US and global stock markets. Major indices such as the S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq suffered further declines after a brief surge earlier this week, wiping an estimated $1.5 trillion from US markets on Tuesday.
Trump acknowledged that the fallout from his move was “somewhat explosive,” but defended his strategy, claiming that “sometimes you have to mix it up a little bit.” He insisted the tariffs were necessary to address perceived trade “abuses” and to promote domestic manufacturing, adding that the US is already generating $2 billion a day from the levies.
