China vowed to “fight to the end” after President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 50 percent duty on imports if Beijing does not withdraw the retaliatory 34 percent tariff it imposed on American products last week.
China’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement that it “resolutely opposes” the president’s escalating threat of tariffs and will not back down.
“The U.S. threat to escalate tariffs on China is a mistake on top of a mistake,” the statement said, according to a CNBC translation. “China will never accept it. If the U.S. insists on its own way, China will fight to the end.”
The vow from China came after President Trump threatened the country with an additional 50 percent tariffs on top of his 34 percent reciprocal tariff he announced during his Rose Garden speech last week. In response, China slapped a retaliatory 34 percent tariff on U.S. products.
“Yesterday, China issued Retaliatory Tariffs of 34%, on top of their already record setting Tariffs, Non-Monetary Tariffs, Illegal Subsidization of companies, and massive long term Currency Manipulation, despite my warning that any country that Retaliates against the U.S. by issuing additional Tariffs, above and beyond their already existing long term Tariff abuse of our Nation, will be immediately met with new and substantially higher Tariffs, over and above those initially set,” Trump wrote on Truth Social:
Therefore, if China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th. Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated! Negotiations with other countries, which have also requested meetings, will begin taking place immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Tianchen Xu, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told CNBC that China is prepared for a trade war regardless of the escalation.
“Since China already faces more than 60% in tariff rate, it doesn’t really matter if it goes up by 50% or 500%,” said Xu. “China is on the defensive side, but basically the two sides are testing each other’s limit.”
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