China on Friday returned to President Trump's latest tariff hike, raising its own rate against the US to 125% as it chuckled its trade policy as “joking” in a scathing statement.
The national move to raise tariffs on US imports from 84% to 125% marks a third retaliation as tensions between the two trading partners escalate.
“The US has become a game of numbers to alternately raise unusually high tariffs in China, but it has no practical economic importance and is a joke in the history of the world economy,” a spokesman for China's Commerce Department said in a statement.
China was willing to “fight to the end,” but suggested that the country was not looking to raise future fees.
“If the US continues to impose tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the US, China will ignore it,” the country's Treasury ministry said.
The latest escalation comes shortly after Trump suspends higher rates in most countries for 90 days and implements a 10% baseline import tax.
However, he slapped China with an additional 125% tariff, exempting Beijing from suspension due to “lack of respect.”
The White House confirmed that the country faces tariffs totalling 145%, in addition to its previous 20% collection.
“There are no winners in the tariff war. Opposing the world only leads to self-assessment,” China's top leader Xi Jinping spoke publicly on the issue on Friday for the first time.
China said it is filing another lawsuit against the World Trade Organization against Trump's tariffs.
Economists warn that producers are forced to face higher costs and that large tariffs could reheat inflation and even cause a recession at home, as they pass at least some extra charges to consumers.
Meanwhile, companies with US-based supply chains could be hit hard by China's retaliatory tariffs. Competition could be intensified in key markets if companies pass part of their additional costs to Chinese consumers.
Industry from agriculture and food to airplanes and semiconductors could suffer massive economic losses in the United States, potentially leading to downseating and closures, experts previously told the Post.
