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The finance ministry of China has declared that it will implement tariffs of 84 percent on all imports from the United States starting this Thursday, a significant increase from the previously announced rate of 34 percent. According to the ministry, these new tariffs will take effect at 12:01 a.m. CST (04:00 BST) on April 10. This decision follows the imposition of 104 percent tariffs on Chinese goods by U.S. President Donald Trump. In response to these actions, China accused the U.S. of exhibiting "arrogant and bullying behavior" after the tariffs were enacted. Last Friday, China initially responded with a 34 percent tariff on all American imports, alongside imposing export controls on rare earth minerals and other measures due to Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs. Subsequently, Trump added a further 50 percent tariff on Chinese products, claiming that negotiations with China had come to an end.
Until last month, the U.S. had charged China a tariff of 10 percent, which President Trump criticized as having "robbed and ripped off" the American economy of substantial amounts of money, as he labeled Beijing a "tariff abuser" for imposing significantly higher tariffs on U.S. goods. Last week, Trump introduced his "reciprocal tariff" strategy, which entails that the U.S. would impose tariffs that are approximately half of what another country charges on U.S. imports. For China, this meant an additional 34 percent, bringing the total tariff to 44 percent.
Shortly after the announcement of the reciprocal tariffs on April 2, the White House informed reporters that, due to a "national emergency" arising from ongoing security concerns linked to trade deficits, the U.S. would apply a "baseline" 10 percent tariff on all nations. Consequently, China's total tariff basket hit 54 percent. With today's newly introduced "additional 50 percent tariff" directed at China, Beijing now confronts an extraordinary total tariff of 104 percent, marking an almost 100 percent increase in less than a week. Nonetheless, President Trump has indicated that he remains open to negotiations with Beijing. In a message posted on his social media platform Truth Social, he stated, "China also wants to make a deal, badly, but they don’t know how to get it started. We are waiting for their call."
