Array
China announced today that it was raising its tariffs on US goods to 125%, just below where Trump raised tariffs on Chinese goods earlier in the week.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has said his nation is “not afraid,” in his first public comments on the escalating trade war with the United States, as Beijing raised tariffs on US goods to 125%.
The tariff hike is the latest in a tit-for-tat battle between the world’s two largest economies, after Trump raised tariffs on China to 145%. However, China has indicated it does not intend to go higher than 125%, saying it would be meaningless to engage in further escalation.
“The successive imposition of excessively high tariffs on China by the US has become nothing more than a numbers game, with no real economic significance,” a spokesperson for China’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement Friday.
“It merely further exposes the US practice of weaponizing tariffs as a tool of bullying and coercion, turning itself into a joke,” the spokesperson added.
This move apparently came after the Trump administration warned China not to continue to escalate and said that Xi Jinping would need to request a call with Trump. That request has not arrived.
In private discussions hours before China announced new retaliatory tariffs, the Trump administration warned Chinese officials against such a move, according to a source familiar with the discussions.
The Chinese were also told – once again – that Chinese President Xi Jinping should request a call with US President Donald Trump.
Instead, US officials woke up to news of increased Chinese tariffs and no request for a leader level call.
Two senior White House officials tell CNN that the US will not reach out to China first.
