Trump gives China an ultimatum, Beijing takes up the fight: the trade war is just beginning
8 April 10:05
US President Donald Trump has warned China of imposing an additional 50% of duties on Chinese goods if Beijing does not reverse its decision to raise tariffs by 34%. He wrote about this on his social network Truth Social, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.
The American leader said that the deadline for refusing the new duties expires on April 8, and if they are maintained, Washington will impose new economic restrictions on April 9. In addition, Trump announced the termination of any negotiations with China, emphasizing that the United States is ready to negotiate with other countries instead.
“Yesterday, China imposed 34% tariffs on top of the tariffs already in place… despite my warning that any country that retaliates against the United States by imposing additional tariffs… will immediately face new and much higher tariffs… Thus, if China does not reverse the 34% increase by tomorrow, April 8, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL tariffs on China of 50% starting April 9. In addition, all negotiations with China on the meetings they have requested will be suspended!”
– the US President wrote in an ultimatum.
In response, the Chinese authorities declared their readiness to “fight to the end”. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce called the US actions “unilateral intimidation” and emphasized that Beijing would take all necessary measures to protect its economic interests. China has also imposed export controls on a number of rare earth metals critical to the US high-tech industry and stopped importing chicken from several major US suppliers.
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How the US-China trade war escalated
The trade confrontation between the world’s two largest economies escalated sharply in early 2025 after Trump’s re-election. on February 1, Washington imposed a 10% tariff on all Chinese imports, accusing Beijing of “unfair trade” and manipulating the yuan exchange rate. on March 4, tariffs were raised by another 10%, bringing the total level of duties to 20%.
In response, on March 10, China announced the introduction of 15% duties on American agricultural products and 10% duties on other goods. However, this did not stop Washington: on April 2, Trump raised duties by another 34%, bringing the total level to 54%. In fact,Trump’s “spreadsheets” even included a figure of 67%.
on April 4, Beijing responded by raising its own duties by 34%, which led to Trump’s new statement about the possibility of even tougher measures.
Market reaction and implications for the global economy
The escalation of the conflict has already had a negative impact on global financial markets. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell by 13%, and Shanghai’s Shanghai Composite lost 7% of its value. American companies doing business in China have announced possible losses due to new economic barriers.
Economists predict that the consequences of the trade war could lead to a 2% decline in China’s GDP in 2025. At the same time, analysts in the United States warn of a possible rise in inflation and losses for companies dependent on Chinese suppliers.
The trade war between the US and China is only gaining momentum, and experts are already warning of its potential consequences for the global economy. Whether Trump will be able to force Beijing to give in or whether China will take new steps in response remains an open question.
Trump’s tariffs
on April 2, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the introduction of “mirror” tariffs against almost all countries in the world (except Russia, Belarus, Cuba, and the DPRK). These tariffs, according to the White House, will be half of the tariff that a particular country has imposed on US goods. For example, China allegedly imposes a 67% tariff on US goods, so the US imposed a 34% tariff on Chinese goods.
For those countries that do not impose special duties on American goods, a basic tariff of 10% was introduced.
Trump called the introduction of such trade barriers “Liberation Day” and said that this day would go down in US history as the beginning of the restoration of the American economy and greatness.
Interestingly, the comparative table released by the White House provides data on tariffs against 185 countries, but Russia is not on the list. Instead, it includes the Herd and McDonald Islands, which were subject to a basic 10% tariff. The only thing is that there is not a single person on these islands.
