On Tuesday, China responded to President Trump’s demand that they lift their retaliatory tariffs or face a 50% U.S. levy by calling his threat “blackmail,” escalating tensions between the two global powers. The Ministry of Commerce stated that China had taken note of the U.S. threat but would take countermeasures to protect its interests. They argued that the U.S.’s threat to increase tariffs was a mistake, revealing the blackmail nature of the U.S. China emphasized that they would not accept such actions and would fight back if the U.S. persisted. Previously, China announced that they would match Mr. Trump’s tariffs with a retaliatory 34% tax on American imports. The latest escalation from Mr. Trump could bring the U.S. tariff on Chinese goods to 104%, potentially harming American importers of goods such as clothing, cellphones, chemicals, and machinery. China urged the U.S. to cancel all unilateral tariffs, stop suppressing China’s economy, and resolve differences through equal dialogue based on mutual respect. China has been attempting to engage in high-level talks with the Trump administration for months, hoping to establish a potential summit between Mr. Trump and China’s top leader, Xi Jinping. However, Beijing has struggled to receive any solid response from the White House. (Source: The New York Times

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/world/asia/china-trump-tariffs.html