The Chinese finance ministry said that these additional tariffs will be imposed on goods from the US from April 10, news agency Reuters reported. Beijing had previously announced a retaliatory tariff of 34 per cent on American goods.
US Entities Added to Export Control List
China’s commerce ministry also announced that it has added 12 US entities to its export control list, while including 6 American entities to its “unreliable entity” list.
Soon after the announcement, the US stock index futures also reportedly took a sharp dive.
Later, the US reacted to China’s retaliatory tariffs, describing them as “unfortunate”. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged Beijing to not avoid the issue and asked it to “come to the table”.
Trump’s 104% Tariff on China
This comes just a day after Trump imposed a 104 per cent tariffs on China, with the White House press secretary saying that the additional tariff will be collected from Wednesday, April 09.
Trump’s move was in response to China’s retaliation to his reciprocal tariffs, with the President on Tuesday saying that he was waiting for a response from China before implementing duties exceeding 100 per cent.
China had last week, days after Trump announced his sweeping tariffs, announced that it was imposing an additional tariff of 34 per cent on all US goods from April 10. Beijing had also said that it would control exports of medium and heavy rare earths, materials which are used in high-tech products such as computer chips and electric vehicle batteries.
China’s Justification for Export Controls
“The purpose of the Chinese government’s implementation of export controls on relevant items in accordance with the law is to better safeguard national security and interests and to fulfill international obligations such as non-proliferation,” China’s commerce ministry had said in a statement.
Donald Trump had reacted to the 34 per cent levy saying that China “cannot afford to do it”. He had written on his Truth Social network, “China played it wrong, they panicked The one thing they cannot afford to do!”
China Will ‘Fight to the End’ Trump Tariffs
China’s move to further up the tariff, taking it from 34 per cent to 84 per cent, is indicative of his vow to “fight to the end” against the Trump tariffs. Beijing argued that the trade between the two nations was in balance as the 104 per cent tax on the country’s exports to the US came into effect.
The Xi Jinping-led government had declined to state whether it would negotiate with the White House, like several countries are already doing.
“If the U.S. insists on further escalating its economic and trade restrictions, China has the firm will and abundant means to take necessary countermeasures and fight to the end” the Chinese commerce ministry said in its statement.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang had also said that his country has ample policy tools to “fully offset” any negative external shocks as Trump imposed the 104 per cent tariffs across all Chinese imports.
Qiang reiterated his optimism about the growth of the world’s second largest economy in 2025.
