Donald Trump has threatened China with an extra tariff of 50% on goods imported into the US if it does not withdraw a countermeasure and reiterated he would not pause on others tariffs as global markets tumbled for a third day.
Speaking at the White House on Monday the US president said that he is not considering a pause on new, wide-ranging tariffs to allow for negotiations with other countries.
“We’re not looking at that. We have many, many countries that are coming to negotiate deals with us, and there are going to be fair deals,” he told reporters.
Trump reiterated his threat of additional 50% duties on Chinese goods if Beijing did not retract its counter tariff plans by Tuesday.
In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, the US president said he would introduce the extra tariff unless China withdrew its own 34% counter-tariff on American goods, which it announced on Friday.
Trump said last Wednesday that he would impose a tax of 34% on Chinese imports as part of his so-called “Liberation Day” that placed a minimum 10% levy on nearly all of America’s trading partners.
If he does impose the additional 50%, US companies would pay a total rate of 104% on Chinese imports.
The total is now 104% as it comes on top of 20% tariffs already put in place in March and an extra 34% announced last week.
In his post on Truth Social, Trump said China had introduced its countermeasure “despite my warning that any country that Retaliates against the U.S. by issuing additional Tariffs… will be immediately met with new and substantially higher Tariffs”.
Speaking from the White House, the US president said there could be both permanent tariffs and negotiations.
He reiterated that he would raise tariffs against China by 50% if Beijing did not pull back on its reciprocal tariffs by midday on Tuesday.
“We have $36 trillion debt for a reason,” he said, adding that the US would be talking to China among other countries to make a “fair deal and a good deal”.
“It’s now America first,” the US president said.
The escalating tension between the US and China has increased fears of a global trade war. The tariffs would come as a major blow to China’s manufacturers, for whom the US is a key market for exports.
Uncertainty around the tariffs led to a turbulent day on global stock markets.
Markets worldwide have tumbled since Trump announced fresh tariffs on imports from nearly all economies.
The value of US stock markets dropped sharply again on opening, while Europe’s biggest markets, including London’s FTSE 100, have all closed more than 4% down.
Asian share indexes nosedived, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index falling by more than 13%, its biggest one-day fall since 1997.
The impact on the FTSE 100, America’s S&P 500, Germany’s Dax and Japan’s Nikkei has been wide-ranging.
Trump’s post also indicated that negotiations on countries’ tariff rates “will begin taking place immediately”.
Trump is due to meet Israel’s leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, later today. Tariffs are thought to be among the subjects the two will discuss.
The US president also posted earlier that Japan was sending a negotiation team to discuss tariffs.
And Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, offered Trump a “zero-for-zero tariff” deal – although she previously said that she had not ruled out retaliation.
“We are also prepared to respond through countermeasures and defend our interests,” she said.
