China raises US tariffs to 125 per cent as it invites the European Union (EU) to team up with it against Donald Trump’s ‘bullying’ tariff policies
China has raised its tariffs on US products to 125 per cent in the latest salvo of the trade dispute with Washington, just hours after Xi Jinping said there were “no winners in a tariff war”.
Xi made the comments during a meeting with the Spanish Prime Minister in which he invited the EU to work with China to resist “bullying”, part of an apparent campaign to shore up other trading partners.
The Chinese commerce ministry announced on Friday, April 11 that it was raising the 84 per cent tariffs on all US imports to 125 per cent, again saying that China was ready to “fight to the end”. The statement also suggested that it may be Beijing’s last move in the tit-for-tat tariff rises as “at the current tariff level, there is no market acceptance for US goods exported to China”.
“If the US continues to impose tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the US, China will ignore it,” it said, flagging that there were other countermeasures to come.
Some markets continued to tumble on Friday, April 11 as the French president, Emmanuel Macron, described the US President’s 90-day tariff pause, which sets most tariffs at 10 per cent until July, as “fragile”.
Asian indices followed Wall Street lower on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei down nearly five per cent and Hong Kong stocks heading towards the biggest weekly decline since 2008. Oil prices were also expected to drop for a second consecutive week.
Chinese officials have been canvassing other trading partners about how to deal with the US tariffs, after the country was excluded from Trump’s 90-day pause of the steepest global tariffs. Instead, the US President made consecutive increases to duties on Chinese imports, which are now 145 per cent.
On April 11, Xi welcomed Spain’s Pedro Sánchez, after also talking to counterparts in Saudi Arabia and South Africa. According to the official Chinese summary of the talks, Xi said “there will be no winners in a tariff war, and going against the world will isolate oneself”, in an apparent reference to the US.
“China and the EU should fulfil their international responsibilities, jointly maintain the trend of economic globalisation and the international trade environment, and jointly resist unilateral bullying, not only to safeguard their own legitimate rights and interests, but also to safeguard international fairness and justice, and to safeguard international rules and order,” the summary said the Chinese president told Sánchez.
Spain said Sánchez told Xi his country favoured a more balanced relationship between the EU and China based on negotiations to resolve differences and cooperation in areas of common interest.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of protesters flooded the streets of major US cities on Saturday, April 5 to oppose the divisive policies of President Donald Trump, in the largest demonstrations since his return to the White House.
Opponents of the Republican president’s policies — from government staffing cuts to trade tariffs and eroding civil liberties — rallied in Washington, New York, Houston, Florida, Colorado and Los Angeles, among other locations.
