Trump Threatens 104% Tariffs on China as the Mad King Plays Chicken With the Global Economy

President Donald Trump threatened to enforce an further 50% tariff connected goods imported from China successful a station connected his societal media level Truth Social connected Monday. The full tariff connected China would emergence to 104% if the state doesn’t backmost disconnected and driblet the 34% retaliatory tariff it announced successful effect to Trump’s ain 34% hike connected goods coming from the U.S. past week. And Trump’s caller menace isn’t precisely calming anyone’s nerves.

“If China does not retreat its 34% summation supra their already agelong word trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States volition enforce ADDITIONAL Tariffs connected China of 50%, effectual April 9th,” Trump wrote.

Trump introduced a caller 34% tariff connected Chinese goods connected April 2 during his bizarre “Liberation Day” announcement successful the Rose Garden of the White House. But that tariff was already connected apical of an existing 20% tariff connected imports from the country. If Trump does spell done with his threat, it would look the full tariff would magnitude to 104%, though it’s not wholly wide yet if that’s so the ceiling.

As always, Trump’s threats connected Monday provided small clarity connected however everything whitethorn really work. When the president made his tariffs announcement past week, implicit with a now-infamous chart, marketplace analysts and journalists were near confused astir what the numbers helium was displaying really meant. It turned retired that Trump was creating fake numbers that purported to amusement existing tariffs connected U.S. goods. In reality, the White House was utilizing an equation that made perfectly nary sense.

To get astatine its numbers, the White House took the commercialized shortage with each state divided by the full imports from that state to the U.S. and past divided that fig by fractional to find the tariff. If the U.S. had a commercialized surplus with a country, it inactive got slapped with a baseline tariff of 10%. Australia, for example, imports much from the U.S. than it exports but inactive got deed with a 10% tariff connected each goods it exports to Americans.

Trump did springiness immoderate breadcrumbs of anticipation that his tariffs connected different nations extracurricular China were up for negotiation, according to his latest Truth Social post.

“Additionally, each talks with China concerning their requested meetings with america volition beryllium terminated! Negotiations with different countries, which person besides requested meetings, volition statesman taking spot immediately. Thank you for your attraction to this matter!” Trump concluded successful his Truth Social post.

The markets person been swinging wildly connected Monday, archetypal plunging astatine the unfastened but past recovering concisely aft a tweet from idiosyncratic named Walter Bloomberg connected X. Bloomberg has nary affiliation with Bloomberg News but galore radical travel the relationship due to the fact that it often tweets breaking quality from the ligament services. Erik Wasson, a newsman for Bloomberg News, adjacent tweeted Monday that radical shouldn’t trust connected that Walter Bloomberg account, penning “He doesn’t enactment for america and is not authorized by Bloomberg.” Walter Bloomberg tweeted that the White House was considering a 90-day pause connected each tariffs, seemingly due to the fact that Trump advisor Kevin Hassett had fixed a Fox News interrogation 2 hours earlier wherever he’d been asked astir the anticipation of conscionable specified a reprieve.

Hassett responded “I deliberation the president is going to determine what the president is going to decide,” which is fundamentally saying that helium doesn’t know. But the anserine crippled of Telephone that is our modern net took that arsenic gospel that Trump would beryllium pausing the tariffs, sending the markets soaring into affirmative territory earlier crashing backmost down erstwhile the White House called it “fake news.”

Congress has the powerfulness to enforce tariffs nether Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution but Trump is utilizing the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, which allows the president to enforce tariffs successful the sanction of a nationalist emergency. Trump is imposing these planetary tariffs due to the fact that helium says commercialized deficits are an “emergency.” Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, introduced a measure last week to claw backmost immoderate of that power. And arsenic of Monday, the measure has 7 Republican sponsors, according to NBC News. But adjacent if the measure passes the Senate, it seems improbable to travel to a ballot successful the House, wherever House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, has shown nary signs that helium volition betray Trump by taking backmost immoderate of the powers primitively fixed to Congress.

Nobody knows what the remainder of the week holds for the planetary economy, but it seems similar it tin lone get stupider from here. And it’s astir wholly the responsibility of 1 feline if you don’t number the Republicans who person enabled this stupidity. Trump is playing chickenhearted with the planetary economy. And picking a combat with the full satellite hasn’t worked retired good historically for the aggressor country.