President Donald Trump lived up to his title as the world’s pettiest world leader once again on Monday by threatening to slap China with an additional 50% tariff unless it removes its 34% retaliatory tax on U.S. goods.
“If China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
This latest threat marks another escalation in Trump’s tit-for-tat trade war. Just last week, he rolled out so-called reciprocal tariffs on roughly 90 countries on what he called “Liberation Day.” And now that China has matched the United States with a 34% tariff of its own, Trump has doubled down.
In his Truth Social rant, Trump said that China retaliated “despite my warning that any country that Retaliates against the U.S. by issuing additional Tariffs, above and beyond their already existing long term Tariff abuse of our Nation, will be immediately met with new and substantially higher Tariffs.”
If Trump goes through with this, we’ll be in a full-blown trade war.
A senior White House official told ABC News that Trump’s new threat wouldn’t just be on top of the 34% tariff announced last week, but also on the existing 20%, bringing the total tariff on some Chinese goods to a jaw-dropping 104%.
That’s not just a number. It means that iPhones, TVs, clothing, furniture—basically anything made in China—could soon cost U.S. consumers a whole lot more. And with Trump’s timeline, that price spike could hit shelves as early as this week.
But as Americans brace for these higher costs, Trump spent the weekend golfing.
Now, under pressure, he’s pretending to play diplomat. In his Truth Social post on Monday, he floated the idea of “negotiations” with other nations, likely because his reckless trade war is triggering global panic and even giving some of his MAGA loyalists pause.
“Negotiations with other countries, which have also requested meetings, will begin taking place immediately,” he wrote.
At least 50 countries have already requested negotiations with the Trump administration, hoping to avoid getting further embroiled in economic crossfire. But whether those talks will be productive is another question. The administration has already made clear that it’s not playing fair. Even countries offering to eliminate their tariffs may still get punished.
“Let’s take Vietnam. When they come to us and say ‘we’ll go to zero tariffs,’ that means nothing to us because it’s the nontariff cheating that matters,” White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told CNBC on Monday.
But Navarro later tried to walk back his statement, saying that zero tariffs is a “small first start.”
Meanwhile, Trump remains defiantly proud of his protectionist crusade—once calling “tariff” the most beautiful word in the English language. But Tariffs don’t punish foreign governments; they punish consumers. And as Trump doubles down, the stock market is spiraling and recession fears are rising.
Still, Trump doesn’t seem to care. His plan to impose even more tariffs on countries that lower theirs is the same old game he always plays: All chaos, all of the time.
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