China’s finance ministry said on Friday that it would impose a 34% tariff on all goods imported from the United States starting on April 10.
According to state news outlet Xinhua, this is in response to duties imposed by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this week.
Trump’s 34 per cent tariff on China announced on Wednesday is on top of two earlier 10% tariffs, bringing the combined total to at least 54%.
Trump defended his tariffs to reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday, characterising his decision to place penalties on imports from more than 180 countries and territories as a negotiating tactic to spur U.S. investments and aid in critical business decisions, including the sale of TikTok.
“We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariff?’ The tariffs give us great power to negotiate,” Trump said.
Trump signed an order in January giving TikTok’s Chinese-based owner, ByteDance a deadline to sell the platform to a non-Chinese buyer or face a nationwide ban.
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