Trump Raises Tariffs on China to 104%: Stock Markets Continue to Fall

President Donald Trump intends to impose tariffs of 8% on all Chinese goods on April 9, White House press secretary Caroline Levitt said on April 104. The move adds new trade taxes to those in place before Trump's second term, according to CNN.

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China was already set to face a 34% tariff increase on April 9 as part of Trump's package of "reciprocal" tariffs. But the president added another 50% after Beijing failed to back down on its promise to impose 34% retaliatory trade levies on American goods by midday on April 8, for a total of an additional 84% of the toll.

China's Ministry of Commerce said on April 8 that it "firmly opposes" the additional 50% tariffs on Chinese goods, calling it "mistake upon mistake." The agency vowed to step up retaliatory measures against American exports.

On the subject: Beggar thy neighbor and yourself: Trump tariffs could be a disaster for the US

U.S. stock markets, which had risen on the morning of April 8, began to fall again after Levitt's comments. As a result, trading ended with a significant decline. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 320 points, or 0,84%. The broader S&P 500 Index fell by 1,57%. The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite Index fell by 2,15%.

“Countries like China that are seeking revenge and trying to double down on their injustice against American workers are making a mistake,” Levitt told reporters on April 8. “President Trump has a backbone of steel, and it will not break.”

“The Chinese want to make a deal, they just don’t know how,” she added. Levitt declined to say under what conditions, if any, Trump might consider reducing tariffs on Chinese exports.

Asian markets largely followed Wall Street's decline, with Japan's Nikkei 225 index opening about 9% lower on Wednesday (April 3). Hong Kong's Hang Seng index also fell 3%. South Korea's Kopsi and Australia's ASX 200 indexes were each down about 1%.

In February, Trump initially imposed a 10 percent tariff on all Chinese goods, without exception, over China's alleged role in facilitating illegal immigration and bringing fentanyl into the U.S. He doubled those rates last month.

China was the second-largest source of imports for the U.S. last year, shipping $439 billion in goods, while the U.S. exported $144 billion in goods to China. The tariffs threaten to hurt domestic industry and are likely to lead to layoffs.

By the end of Trump’s first term, the U.S. was levying an average tariff of 19,3% on Chinese goods, according to an analysis by the Peterson Institute for International Economics. The Biden administration has kept most of Trump’s tariffs in place but added additional ones, bringing the average rate to 20,8%.

From April 9, the overall average tariff on Chinese exports to the United States will rise to almost 125%.

Potential countermeasures

Two influential Beijing-linked commentators, citing anonymous sources, published an identical list of possible Chinese retaliatory measures.

The measures include significantly increasing tariffs on American agricultural products such as soybeans and sorghum, banning imports of American poultry, suspending cooperation on fentanyl, and restricting market access for services such as legal advice. China promises further restrictions or a complete ban on imports of American films, as well as an investigation into how much American companies earn from their intellectual property in China.

"China does not provoke trouble, but it is not afraid of it either," wrote Liu Hong, a senior editor at China's official state news agency Xinhua, who posted the list on social media.

The same set of measures was posted on another account run by Ren Yi, the Harvard-educated grandson of the late senior party official Ren Zhongyi.

While previous rounds of Chinese tariffs have prompted more American companies to look to other countries like Mexico and Vietnam for manufacturing opportunities, China has remained a major foreign source for many goods.

These include toys, communications devices such as smartphones, computers, and a wide range of other consumer electronics, all of which are likely to become very expensive for American consumers.

Dozens of other countries and the European Union also face an April 9 deadline to impose new tariffs. Those rates, announced by Trump last week, range from 11% to 50%.

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Levitt told reporters that despite a series of talks with world leaders seeking to negotiate tariff cuts, the president has no desire to delay his plans.

After speaking with Trump on Tuesday, April 8, Levitt said, "He expects these tariffs to go into effect."

At the same time, she added that Trump has directed his trade team to negotiate “tailor-made” deals with countries that want to negotiate. When asked further whether the president has a timetable or a specific timeline for such trade agreements, Levitt again emphasized that these will not be “model deals.”

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