BEIJING — China stated on Tuesday that it will not back down in response to President Trump’s new threat to impose an additional 50% tariff on Chinese imports, indicating that the trade war between the world’s top two economies is escalating.
Trump conveyed on Truth Social that he would implement the new tariffs on China unless Beijing retracts a 34% retaliatory tariff on U.S. goods, which it announced last Wednesday as a response to his initial tariff announcement.
In a strongly worded statement, China’s commerce ministry declared that the country ‘will resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard its rights and interests.’
‘The U.S. tariff escalation threat against China compounds its mistake and further exposes its nature of blackmail, which China will never accept,’ the statement continued.
‘China will fight till the end if the U.S. side is bent on going down the wrong path.’
Global equity markets have taken significant hits as recession fears grow following Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ announcement of tariffs affecting most countries and U.S. imports.
However, on Tuesday, Asian stocks experienced a slight recovery, following heavy losses on Monday, with key indexes in Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea showing increases.
Chinese stocks also rose amid reports that state-backed investors known as ‘the national team’ were actively buying to prop up the market.
If Trump carries through with his threat, the U.S. would have imposed a total of 104% in tariffs on Chinese imports for the year.
Initially, Trump imposed 20% tariffs in the first weeks of his presidency and added an additional 34% on Wednesday.
According to the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the United States imported $438.9 billion in goods from China last year, representing a 2.8% increase from 2023.
Gabriel Wildau, a managing director at the consultancy Teneo, expressed expectations that Beijing will ‘hunker down for a protracted economic war of attrition.’
Wildau noted, ‘This strategy of patient resistance is based on a conviction that seven years of efforts to reduce reliance on the U.S. has rendered China economically resilient to the trade war now underway.’
He added, ‘China’s leaders believe that over the long term, Trump is ill-equipped to withstand the political pressure that his tariff policies will generate.’
In contrast to China, other leaders in Asia have condemned the tariffs but have avoided retaliation, instead leaning towards the possibility of negotiations with Washington.
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te stated on Monday that Taiwan ‘has no plans to adopt retaliatory tariffs.’
He mentioned that Taiwan will seek to purchase more American products and lower non-tariff barriers.
Hong Kong, considered a different trade jurisdiction yet a part of China, has not followed Beijing’s lead by imposing tariffs on U.S. goods.
Major U.S. trading partners, including India, Japan, and South Korea, have also refrained from enacting retaliatory measures.
Vietnam, facing one of the highest tariff rates at 46%, designated a deputy prime minister as a special envoy and sent him to the U.S. this week for talks.
Hanoi has requested a delay in the implementation of tariffs, which are scheduled to take effect Wednesday, pending negotiations.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, is among the few major U.S. trade partners openly contemplating countermeasures.
Simultaneously, it has sought negotiations and proposed to eliminate tariffs on industrial goods if the U.S. agrees to roll back its own tariffs.
On Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen held a call with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who is considered the country’s No. 2 leader.
A statement from the commission revealed that von der Leyen ‘called for a negotiated resolution to the current situation, emphasizing the need to avoid further escalation.’
This news article has been updated to reflect official translations.
Aowen Cao contributed to this report.
image source from：https://www.npr.org/2025/04/07/nx-s1-5355148/china-trump-tariffs-trade-war-retaliation
