After US President Donald Trump threatened to impose an additional 50 % tariff on Chinese goods on April 9 if China didn’t meet his deadline and retracted its announced 34 % on American products by April 8, tensions between Beijing and Washington grew.
Trump said in a blog on his Truth Social bill on Monday that “if China does not remove its 34 % improve above their now long-term buying abuses by tomorrow, April 8, 2025, the US will impose more tariffs on China of 50 %, effective April 9”. Also, all discussions with China regarding their scheduled meetings with us will be ended!
Trump claimed in another article that China is the biggest state that evades tariffs. He criticized China for increasing its “long-term ridiculously high tariffs” by 34 % for American goods, as well as for failing to honor his warning to abusing nations to avoid retaliation.
Trump stated on April 2 that the US would establish a 34 % tax on Chinese goods, a similar tax having been applied to goods from China for the past few years. His mathematics is undoubtedly questionable. Trump has increased US tariffs on Chinese goods by 54 % since he stepped down as president on January 20 in addition to the 20 % tariff that was announced in February and March.
On April 4 night, China announced 11 punitive measures, including a 34 % tax on all British goods, sanctions against 11 US businesses, and rare earth export controls to the US.
A round-table discussion with representatives of more than 20 US companies, including Tesla, from China’s Ministry of Commerce on Monday urged them to “make moral voices and take rational actions to simultaneously maintain the stability of international production and supply chains and promote win-win assistance.”
Beijing also urged nations affected by Trump’s mutual taxes to unite and combat US unilateralism.
In a press briefing on Monday, Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said that the United States ‘ arbitrary imposition of tariffs amounts to denying all nations, especially those in the Global South, their right to growth.
According to World Trade Organization data analysis, the US price increase will widen the gap between rich and poor countries, with less developed nations suffering a more considerable impact, according to he said. This is a typical example of economic bullying, isolationism, and unilateralism.
” Countries should uphold the rule of extensive discussion, joint commitment, and shared benefits, adhere to genuine globalism, jointly oppose all forms of unilateralism and protectionism, protect the international system with its core at the UN, and prevent the multilateral trading system with its core,” the WTO stated.
Lin’s remarks came as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index, the benchmark stock market benchmark for the country, dropped 3, 021 points, or 13.2 %, to close at 19, 828 on Monday. Hong Kong experienced its biggest single-day decline since 1997.
On Monday, the Shanghai Composite index, the weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, dropped 245 points or 7.34 % to 3,096, while the Taiex, the weighted index, dropped 2 065 points or 9.8 % to 19, 232.
Within two days of Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs” announcement on April 2, the Dow Jones Index dropped 4, 010 points, or 9.4 %, to 38, 274.
Trump said on Sunday,” I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” when asked by a journalist to comment on the “pain threshold” and the decline in the US stock market.
He added that nations in Europe and Asia were “dying to make a deal” with the US.
Countries like Vietnam and Israel have vowed to revoke all tariffs that have been imposed on American goods since April 2. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, stated on Monday that the EU had offered the US a “zero-for-zero” deal to end tariffs on all industrial goods as part of the trade negotiations.  ,
” Forming an alliance”
Chinese commentators also urged “victims of Trump’s tariffs” to come together and jointly reveal strong countermeasures.
” It’s true that some nations are attempting to reach a compromise with the US by imposing zero-for-zero tariffs. However, this is a foolish decision, according to Chinese economist Pan Helin in a piece. ” Zero-for-zero tariffs won’t help to reduce the United States ‘ trade deficit. The US only desires that the businesses in the countries cited relocate to America.
If the US still wants to confront China, Pan claims that China must form and lead an anti-US alliance to force the US to leave the world’s trade system.
According to Xiao Zhifu, a researcher at the Kunlunce Institute, a Chinese think tank, Trump’s tariffs appear unorganized but are actually precise attacks on China.
” The US saw its trade deficit significantly increase by 14 % to US$ 1.21 trillion in 2024. He claims that China came in first place in terms of trade surplus with the US, behind the EU and Mexico. Trump wants to earn$ 600 billion from the new tariffs, about a quarter of which will be imported from China.
He asserts that Beijing must form an alliance with as many nations as possible in order to combat the US, despite the fact that it’s unlikely that Washington will ease tariffs on China.
China can ally itself with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization members and the BRICS countries in opposition to Trump’s tariffs, claims Zhou Xiaoming, a Guancha.cn columnist. He asserts that China should strengthen trade ties with Saudi Arabia, Russia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and India.  ,
‘ Map cannon ‘ versus’bathrooms’
Trump already imposed an average 20 % tariff on all Chinese goods during his first US-China trade war, which he started in 2018. Many Chinese manufacturers were forced to relocate their manufacturing facilities to Southeast Asian nations and Mexico, or to ship their goods from outside the US to the country via third countries.
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission ( USCC), an independent body of the US government, stated in a report to the Congress in November 2023 that” a growing number of suppliers in overseas markets are owned by Chinese entities who also seek to evade trade restrictions by setting up facilities overseas, particularly in other parts of Asia and Mexico. ” US exposure to China also increased as a result of transshipping goods through third countries.”
Chinese companies have successfully lowered the negative effects of the US trade war in 2018 on them by setting up “bathing bases” overseas to assemble their semi-finished goods or putting” Made in Vietnam” labels on them and re-export them to the US, according to Chinese media and commentators.
Trump introduced the “reciprocal tariffs” ( regional attacks ) in response to this, according to the Hong Kong media, on 180 nations, including some uninhabited volcanic islands close to Antarctica.  ,
The term” Map cannon” refers to a situation in video games where a player strikes an enemy repeatedly within a given area of a map. Additionally, it is a slang term used to slam a netizen’s careless comments that stereotype a community.
The latest tariffs, according to Hong Kong newspapers, hit Washington’s military allies, including the EU and the UK ( 10 % ), technology partners, such as Japan ( 24 % ), South Korea ( 25 % ), and Taiwan ( 32 % ), as well as manufacturing goods suppliers, such as Cambodia ( 49 % ), Vietnam ( 46 % ), Thailand ( 36 % ), India ( 26 % ), Sri Lanka ( 44 % ), and Pakistan ( 29 % ).
Yong Jian contributes to the Asia Times. He is a journalist from China who has a focus on Chinese politics, technology, and politics.  ,
Read: China claims to be prepared and able to fight Trump’s trade war.