China is responding to U.S. tariffs with some of its own as markets continue to spiral in response to President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff announcement earlier this week.
China is placing a 34 percent retaliatory tariff on U.S. imports to match Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports, Beijing’s finance ministry announced Friday. The Chinese tariffs will go into effect April 10, heightening the trade war between the world’s largest economies.
“This practice of the US is not in line with international trade rules, seriously undermines China's legitimate rights and interests, and is a typical unilateral bullying practice,” China’s tariff commission said in a statement.
China is following through on its promise to respond forcefully to American aggression and fight a trade war if that is what the U.S. desires.
The tariffs follow Trump’s announcement of an additional 34 percent tariff on all Chinese imports to the U.S., on top of the 20 percent levies Trump already imposed on Chinese goods through two 10 percent increments earlier in his term. Fentanyl and its precursor chemicals are often produced in China and shipped to Mexico before being smuggled across the southern border.
“CHINA PLAYED IT WRONG, THEY PANICKED – THE ONE THING THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO DO!” Trump said on Truth Social.
President Trump has repeatedly said fentanyl trafficking into the U.S. was a motivating factor for additional tariffs on China. The Chinese government recently asserted that it has implemented strict controls on fentanyl production and seeks to cooperate with the U.S. on the issue.
Trump’s dramatic escalation of U.S. tariffs on countries around the world Wednesday shocked Wall Street and sent markets into free fall as businesses scramble to adjust.
The Dow Jones plunged 1,000 points at the open on Friday, a 2.5 percent drop that came after the market plummeted 1,700 points on Thursday, the worst single-day sell-off since the 2020 Covid panic and the fifth worst single day in the Dow’s history. The S&P 500 fell 2.8 percent at the open on Friday after shedding 4.8 percent Thursday. The tech-dominated Nasdaq dropped 2.8 percent, bringing it close to bear market territory.
In addition to tariffs, China placed eleven American firms onto its “unreliable entity list” and imposed export controls on 16 American companies to prevent them from exporting dual-use Chinese items. China is also placing export controls on seven kinds of rare earth minerals and launched investigations into imported CT X-ray tubes coming from the U.S. and India.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged Wall Street’s negative reaction to Trump’s tariffs, but said he expects businesses to adjust to the new rules.
“Markets are crashing because markets are based on the stock value of companies who today are embedded in modes of production that are bad for the United States,” Rubio said in Brussels at a meeting between NATO foreign ministers.
A stronger than expected March jobs report Friday did not quell market anxieties as the tariffs bring fresh uncertainty to U.S. labor markets and firings across the federal government have yet to fully materialize. Stock market indexed had their worst trading day Thursday since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 amid the fallout from Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs and the upending of the global economic order.
Many economists expect the tariffs to drive up prices for consumers and harm economic growth, while needlessly alienating allies and disrupting American industries. Trump and his defenders argue the tariffs are necessary to bolster American manufacturing and end unfair trade practices the U.S. has tolerated for far too long.
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