Blow for blow. China announces 125 percent tariffs on the US! “We will fight to the end”

This is now an open trade war. On Friday, April 11, an important announcement came from China. The Chinese Ministry of Finance announced an increase in tariffs on products imported from the US to 125 percent. This is retaliation for President Donald Trump’s decision to raise tariffs on Chinese goods to 145 percent. Beijing has announced that it will “fight to the end.”

The ministry said that in addition to increasing the tariff level from 84 percent to 125 percent, “other issues” related to “retaliatory tariffs” are being implemented in accordance with Communiqué No. 4/2025 on tariffs, meaning they will be added to the tariff rate in effect at the beginning of April. “The U.S. side is arbitrarily imposing excessively high tariffs on China, which seriously violates international trade rules, ignores the post-war global economic order built by the United States itself, and violates basic rights and economic common sense,” the Chinese government’s Customs Tariff Commission said in a statement released by the finance ministry. “This is a completely unilateral behavior based on intimidation and coercion. China strongly condemns it.”

China’s blow for Trump’s retaliation

The statement also states that the Chinese government believes that “the US tariff increases are economically meaningless and will become a laughing stock in the history of the world economy”. “If the United States continues its tariff numbers game, China will ignore it. However, if the US side insists on further significant infringement of Chinese interests, China will firmly oppose it and fight to the end,” the Chinese authorities warn.

Trump suspends rest of the world tariffs

Let us recall that the increase in tariffs on goods from China announced on Wednesday (April 9) by Donald Trump was the latest blow so far in the trade war between Washington and Beijing. The PRC was initially to be subject to a tariff of 34 percent, but after Beijing’s retaliation, the tariff was raised first to 84 percent, and then to 125 percent. At the same time, also on April 9, Trump announced that due to the fact that over 75 countries had approached Washington with offers of trade negotiations and these countries had not retaliated, he had decided to suspend the increased rate for the rest of the countries for 90 days. During this time, basic tariffs of 10 percent are to apply. “People are jumping out of line a little bit. They got a little scared, people were afraid,” he said. He dismissed suggestions that the sudden changes of opinion undermined his credibility, claiming that “flexibility” was necessary.