China will impose a 125 percent tariff on U.S. goods starting Saturday, the finance ministry said on Friday, marking a significant increase from the previously announced 84 percent charge.
This came after U.S. President Donald Trump increased tariffs on Chinese imports to 145 percent but hit a 90-day pause on the previously announced sweeping tariffs for dozens of countries.
“The U.S. imposition of abnormally high tariffs on China seriously violates international and economic trade rules, basic economic laws and common sense and is completely unilateral bullying and coercion,” China’s Finance Ministry said in a statement.
Beijing says it won’t raise tariffs further
China’s Finance Ministry added that even if the U.S. continues to impose higher tariffs, it will no longer make economic sense and will become “a joke in the history of world economy”.
“At the current tariff level, there is no market acceptance for U.S. goods exported to China. If the U.S. continues to play the tariff numbers game, China will ignore it. However, if the U.S. insists on continuing to substantially infringe on China’s interests, China will resolutely counterattack and fight to the end,” the statement added.
U.S.-China trade war escalates
When U.S. President Donald Trump first announced his sweeping global import tax scheme, China’s rate was determined at 34 percent. Beijing retaliated with a 34 percent tariff on American goods, which kicked off a tit-for-tat trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
Then, the U.S. responded by raising their tariffs to a total of 104 percent. In response, China raised their charge to 84 percent. The U.S. responded again by raising tariffs to 125 percent and then to 145 percent.
“The U.S.’s practice of escalating tariffs on China is a mistake on top of a mistake, which seriously infringes on China’s legitimate rights and interests and seriously damages the rules-based multilateral trading system,” China’s State Council Tariff Commission said in a statement earlier this week.
Read: Stocks sink, dollar falls as tariff-induced recession fears shake investor confidence
China imposes export controls on 12 American companies
On Wednesday, China’s commerce ministry also imposed export controls on 12 American companies and added six more U.S. firms to its “unreliable entity list.” Companies on that list are banned from trading or investing in China. Furthermore, China filed a complaint to the World Trade Organization over the latest U.S. tariffs, according to the commerce ministry.
China’s trade surplus with the U.S. widened to $295.4 billion last year from $279.1 billion in 2023, according to U.S. Census data. The goods trade gap peaked in 2018 at $418 billion, the same year Trump, in his first term as president, imposed tariffs on Chinese outbound shipments.
