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US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. (AFP/Yonhap)

US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that was raising tariffs on Chinese imports from 104% to 125%, effective immediately. The move came in retaliation to Beijing’s announcement on Tuesday that it would be raising its own tariffs on imports from the US from 34% to 84%. The ongoing tit-for-tat between the world’s two biggest economies has sparked a trade war that is expected to escalate across the globe.

Trump paused tariffs on all other countries besides China for 90 days. After renegotiating with countries and rallying its allies during this three-month respite, the US is expected to go after China again.  

“Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday. A day later, the White House clarified that the rate would actually be 145%. 

“At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the USA, and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,” he added. 

Conversely, Trump paused tariffs on others that did not retaliate for 90 days, in consideration of the fact that “more than 75 Countries” had called to negotiate solutions and had not retaliated. “I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately,” the US president wrote. 

After launching its trade war by levying a universal tariff that did not distinguish between friend and foe, observers say that Washington is now focusing its fire on China 

Addressing reporters in front of the White House on Wednesday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called China “the biggest source of the US trade problems.”

“What we’ve seen is, as the US announced the tariff wall last week, many of those goods have already started flooding into Europe,” he continued. “We are going to work on a solution with our trading partners.”

The suggestion is that China’s overproduction hurts not only the US, but the world, and that the US plans tackle the issue alongside its allies. 

At an event hosted by the American Bankers Association in Washington, DC, on the same day, Bessent said, “We can probably reach a deal with our allies.” 

“They’ve been good military allies, not perfect economic allies. And then we can approach China as a group,” he added. 

In an interview with Fox Business, Bessent listed allies geographically close to China, including Japan, South Korea, India and Vietnam, as ready to negotiate. “Everyone is coming to the table, and basically, China is surrounded,” he said. 

To counteract China’s overproduction, the US is likely to demand that its allies implement their own joint tariffs against China. 

Addressing the EU, which appears to have been leaning toward China, Bessent issued a stern warning. 

Referring to comments from Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez that perhaps Europe should align itself with China instead of the US, Bessent said, “That would be cutting your own throat.”

On the same day, the World Trade Organization estimated that the US-China trade war would reduce commodity exchange between the two countries by 80%. “This tit-for-tat approach between the world’s two largest economies, which together account for roughly 3% of global trade, carries wider implications that could severely damage the global economic outlook,” the organization said. 

The WTO argued that splitting the world economy into two blocs may lead to a long-term reduction in global real GDP by nearly 7%. 

Critics say the tariffs will hurt the US down the road. In a New York Times column titled, “What Trump Just Cost America,” Thomas Friedman claimed that Trump’s recent actions sent a message to the world that he “couldn’t take the heat.” 

“If it were a book it would be called ‘The Art of the Squeal,’” Friedman wrote, making fun of Trump’s 1987 book about his experiences in the real-estate industry, “The Art of the Deal.” 

Friedman argues that Trump isn’t just wasting money but that “invaluable trust just went up in smoke as well,” questioning whether the US’ closest allies will ever trust the US again. 

By Kim Won-chul, Washington correspondent; Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

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