Trump escalates tariff war with China, warns of 94% tariff on Chinese goods

Washington: US President Donald Trump has announced a sharp escalation in the ongoing trade war with China, imposing an additional 50 percent tariff on Chinese goods. The move came after China retaliated to an earlier US order by imposing a uniform 34 percent tariff on American imports.

Within 48 hours of Beijing’s move, Trump responded with further tariffs, bringing the total to 84 percent on all Chinese goods. This figure includes a previously announced 10 percent global tariff that applies to all countries, raising the effective tariff on Chinese goods to 94 percent.

Trump has given Chinese President Xi Jinping 24 hours to withdraw the retaliatory tariffs. If China fails to comply, the US will go ahead with the full 94 percent tariff on Chinese imports.

The announcement was made at around 11:30 am US time (9 pm IST) via Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social. In his post, the President referred to his earlier warning and wrote, “Yesterday China issued a retaliatory tariff of 34 percent, which is already a record-setting tariff. The non-monetary tariffs are in addition to illegal subsidies of companies and large-scale long-term currency manipulation. I warned that any country that retaliates against the U.S. by issuing additional tariffs beyond our country’s already existing long-term tariff abuse will immediately face new and significantly higher tariffs, which will be even higher than what was initially determined.”

The White House has not yet commented on whether negotiations are underway to defuse the rising tensions.