President Trump has warned China to impose an additional 50% tariff on goods entering the U.S. unless Beijing rolls back its 34% counter-tariff
The President of the United States (U.S.) – Donald Trump has issued a fresh warning to China, threatening to impose an additional 50% tariff on Chinese goods entering the U.S. unless Beijing rolls back its newly announced 34% counter-tariff.
The ultimatum, delivered via social media on Monday, comes amid deepening tensions between the world’s two largest economies and growing fears of a global recession.
The standoff escalated after China retaliated against Trump’s earlier decision to slap a 34% tariff on Chinese imports. That move was part of Trump’s broader “Liberation Day” Policy, which sets a minimum 10% import tax on goods from nearly all of America’s trading partners. The Ministry of Commerce of China condemned the move, describing the proposed increase as “a mistake on top of a mistake”.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson said, “China will never accept the blackmail nature of this action. Pressuring or threatening China is not the right way to engage.”
China threatened that if Trump acts on his threat, the U.S. companies could face a total rate of 104% on Chinese imports, as it comes on top of 20% tariffs already put in place in March’25 and the 34% announced last week.
Trump said he is not considering a pause on the global import tariffs to allow for negotiations with other countries.
Speaking from the White House, Trump said, “We’re not looking at that. We have many, many countries that are coming to negotiate deals with us, and there are going to be fair deals.”
He also said that China introduced its countermeasure despite his warning and that any country that retaliates against the U.S. by issuing additional tariffs will be immediately met with new and substantially higher tariffs.
The Chinese Embassy Spokesperson – Liu Pengyu said, “The U.S. hegemonic move in the name of ‘reciprocity’ serves its selfish interests at the expense of other countries’ legitimate interests and puts ‘America first’ over international rules.
Despite escalating rhetoric, Trump noted that tariff negotiations with various countries would begin taking place immediately. On Monday, i.e., 7th April’25, he hosted the Prime Minister of Israel – Benjamin Netanyahu, who pledged to eliminate Israel’s trade imbalance with the U.S. Israel is set to face a 17% tariff from 9th April’25 under the new policy.
Trump also revealed that Japan would send a delegation to negotiate, while European Commission President – Ursula von der Leyen offered a “zero-for-zero” tariff deal, though she warned that the European Union (E.U.) remained prepared to retaliate if necessary.
