Tough Love Doesn't Impress! China Vows Resolute Counter to Trump
China Fires Back: Vows Resolute Retaliation to Trump’s 34% Tariff Slam
China threw down the gauntlet Thursday, promising "resolute countermeasures" after U.S. President Donald Trump slapped a 34 percent tariff on its $438 billion export juggernaut to America, its third-largest market.
The salvo, part of Trump’s "Liberation Day" trade overhaul announced Wednesday from the White House Rose Garden, has pushed total U.S. levies on Chinese goods to a bruising 54 percent—edging close to the 60 percent he’d dangled during his campaign. Beijing’s Ministry of Commerce didn’t mince words, blasting the move as "unilateral bullying" and urging Washington to scrap the duties pronto.
"History proves hiking tariffs won’t fix America’s woes—it just stabs U.S. interests in the back and jeopardizes global supply chains," the ministry’s spokesperson snapped, warning of a no-win trade war. "Protectionism is a dead-end street."
The tariffs, effective April 9 with a 10 percent baseline kicking in April 5, layer atop two earlier 10 percent hits Trump landed in February and March. China’s retort? It’s already slapped 15 percent tariffs on U.S. goods, hauled 10 American firms—including defense and AI players—onto its "unreliable entity" blacklist, and dragged the U.S. to the World Trade Organization’s courtroom.
Trump, wielding a tariff chart like a war banner, called the 34 percent rate "discounted reciprocal," pegging China’s duties at 67 percent when factoring in currency tricks and trade walls. "They’ve been ripping us off for years," he said, framing it as tough love for a nation he claims to respect. "I told President Xi, ‘You’re taking tremendous advantage.’”
The U.S. trade deficit with China—$295.4 billion in 2024—looms large, with Trump betting these levies will force Beijing to buy more American tractors and soybeans.
But China’s not blinking. While officials admit U.S. consumers might feel the pinch, they’re bracing for a gut punch to their own industries, already wobbly from a slowing economy. With $582.4 billion in two-way trade at stake, this tariff tempest threatens to sink exports and jobs. Beijing’s vowed to hit back hard—details TBD—signaling a brawl that could rattle everything from iPhones to Iowa farms.
