President Donald Trump wants to impose more tariffs on China, but the Asian country is not yielding to his demands.
Trump has announced his intent to increase tariffs on Chinese goods by more than 100% if the Chinese government did not reverse its move to match the “reciprocal” duties, per a report on Fox Business.
The president wants to impose an additional 50% tariff on Chinese goods. He wants China to remove its 34% tariffs it imposed on U.S. products last week.
Trump’s additional tariffs would raise the tally against China to 104%.
“The U.S. side’s threat to escalate tariffs against China is a mistake on top of a mistake, once again exposing the American side’s blackmailing nature,” China’s commerce ministry said.
“If the U.S. insists on having its way, China will fight to the end,” it continued.
In the meantime, Chinese manufacturers are looking for business elsewhere.
The Chinese “do not provoke trouble, nor are we afraid of it,” Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, said. “The Chinese people’s legitimate right to development must not be deprived.”
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On Tuesday, China’s state planner said it met domestic private firms.
The meetings were to discuss how to handle the tariffs.
“If the tariffs keep going up and up, it becomes a battle of wills and principles rather than economics,” Xu Tianchen, senior economist for China at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said.
“Since China already faces a tariff rate in excess of 60%, it doesn’t matter if it goes up by 50% or 500%,” he said.
