China sees Trump's 104 and raises its own retaliatory tariff to 84 per cent

China again vowed on 9 April, Wednesday, to "fight to the end" in the escalating trade war with the US, as it announced it would raise tariffs on American goods to 84 per cent from Thursday, 10 April.

Beijing also added an array of countermeasures after .

Beijing said it was launching an additional suit against the US at the and placed further restrictions on American companies' trade with Chinese companies.

"If the US 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 ministry of commerce wrote in a statement introducing its white paper on trade with the US.

The US China tariff war is 🤯 https://t.co/RIu0tMYMga

— Priyanka Chaturvedi🇮🇳 (@priyankac19) April 9, 2025

The Chinese government declined to say whether it would negotiate with the White House, as many other countries have started doing.

On Friday, 4 April, China announced a 34 per cent tariff on all goods imported from the US, export controls on rare earths minerals and a slew of other measures in response to Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs.

Trump then added an additional 50 per cent tariff on goods from China, saying negotiations with them were terminated.

The latest measures include adding 11 American companies to an “unreliable entities” list that would bar Chinese companies from selling them dual-use goods. Among the companies are American Photonics and SYNEXXUS, both of whom work with the American military.

So far, China has not appeared interested in bargaining. “If the US truly wants to resolve issues through dialogue and negotiation, it should adopt an attitude of equality, respect and mutual benefit,” said ministry of foreign affairs spokesman Lin Jian on Wednesday, 9 April.

The China paper also says that the US has not honoured the promises it made in phase 1 of the trade deal concluded during Trump's first term.

As an example, it said that a US law that would ban TikTok unless it was sold by its Chinese parent company violates a promise that neither would "pressure the other party to transfer technology to its own individuals".

Trump signed an order to keep TikTok running for another 75 days last week after a potential deal to sell the app to American owners was put on ice.

ByteDance representatives called the White House to indicate that China would no longer approve the deal until there could be negotiations about trade and tariffs.

China knows that Trump wants lower interest rates.

So instead of responding with tariffs, they are offloading an extra $50 billion in treasuries to push interest rates higher.

China holds $700 billion in US treasuries btw. pic.twitter.com/Y8utulh16R

— ADAM (@AdameMedia) April 8, 2025

The paper also argued that taking into account trade in services and US companies' domestic Chinese branches, economic exchange between the two countries is “roughly in balance”.

It says that China had a trade in services deficit with the US of USD 26.57 billion in 2023, which is composed of industries like insurance, banking and accounting. Trump's tariffs were designed to close trade deficits with foreign countries, but those were calculated only based on trades in physical, tangible goods.

“We have a trillion-dollar trade deficit with China” - Trump.

Fact: It’s $295 billion for goods.

And the US has a $25 billion surplus in services with China.

Thus, the net trade balance is a deficit of $270 billion — about one-fourth of Trump’s claim.

Math is hard. pic.twitter.com/6aLbpbfDDL

— S.L. Kanthan (@Kanthan2030) April 7, 2025

“History and facts have proven that the United States' increase in tariffs will not solve its own problems,” said the statement from the Chinese commerce ministry.

"Instead, it will trigger sharp fluctuations in financial markets, push up US inflation pressure, weaken the US industrial base and increase the risk of a US economic recession, which will ultimately only backfire on itself."