President Donald Trump said Monday that he would impose an additional 50% tariff on all Chinese goods if Beijing doesn’t withdraw retaliatory taxes on United States imports.
Beijing responded to the president’s “Liberation Day” announcement last Wednesday with a 34% tariff on U.S. goods slated to take effect this week, which prompted Trump to raise the stakes again Monday morning.
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“If China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated! Negotiations with other countries, which have also requested meetings, will begin taking place immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
The president had previously warned that efforts by U.S. trading partners to escalate the trade war would be met with “new and substantially higher tariffs,” a point he reiterated in his Monday morning statement.
A 50% increase in tariffs on Chinese imports would bring the effective tariff rate on Beijing to 104%.
Trump’s Monday threat also endangers his hopes of brokering a sale of TikTok to U.S. investors.
On Friday, the president announced a second 75 day-extension for TikTok negotiations, just one day before the April 5 deadline for the app to divest or cease operations in the U.S.
But sources told the Washington Examiner that the White House and lead negotiator Vice President JD Vance had earned a sign-off from ByteDance and, by extension, Beijing on a proposal Wednesday morning.
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However, following “Liberation Day,” China and ByteDance backed out of the deal, claiming they would only address a TikTok sale after sitting down for trade negotiations with the White House.
“China changed the deal because of tariffs,” Trump said on Sunday. “If I gave a little cut in tariffs, they’d approve that deal in 15 minutes, which shows you the power of tariffs, right?”
