The tariff fight between the world’s two largest economies has spiraled into greater peril
The tariff fight between the world’s two largest economies spiraled into greater peril Wednesday as President Donald Trump tried to narrow his global trade war into a direct — and risky — faceoff with Beijing.
As Trump r eversed his larger “reciprocal” tariffs on most of the world in the face of recession fears, he nonetheless hiked his tariffs on China once again — to 125%. The move locks the strategic rivals into a deepening standoff that endangers both their economies and interests around the world. The stakes are higher than ever, as the U.S. and China are already embroiled in competition on everything from artificial intelligence to monetary policy to overall global influence.
Each nation dares the other to blink first. But the rounds of escalation are raising concerns that the window for diplomacy has narrowed even further, while the economic pain on both economies intensifies.
Behind it all, as usual, geopolitics lurks — the concerns about regional and global security that are always in play when economic relations between two of the world’s most powerful nations turn aggressive.
“When you punch the United States of America,” said Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, “President Trump is going to punch back harder.”
After Beijing responded to U.S. President Donald Trump’s 34% “reciprocal” tax on China with the same 34% rate on American goods, Trump raised the tariff by another 50 percentage points, only to be met by the same tariff hike by Beijing on Wednesday morning. U.S. products going to China are now to be taxed 84%.
Hours later, Trump declared that Chinese imports to the United States would be “immediately” taxed at 125%, citing “lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets.”
“At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent insisted this had been Trump’s strategy all along and that Beijing has “shown themselves to the world as the bad actors.
