China Hits Back With Massive Retaliatory Tariff After Trump’s 104% Midnight Tariff Goes Into Effect

President Donald Trump’s 104% tariffs on China took effect at midnight, and the Chinese hit back almost immediately. 

Hours after Trump’s tariffs went into effect, China announced it would impose additional retaliatory tariffs of 50% on the United States starting Thursday, bringing its total tariff on American imports to 84%. In response to the tariffs and escalating trade war, markets around the world continued to struggle while American stock futures were down Wednesday morning.

The White House stood by its actions on Wednesday morning, saying that China’s retaliation was a losing strategy. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it was “unfortunate” the Chinese don’t want to negotiate, calling them the “worst offenders” in the global economy.

“I think it’s unfortunate that the Chinese actually don’t want to come and negotiate because they are the worst offenders in the international trading system. They have the most imbalanced economy in the history of the modern world. And I can tell you that this escalation is a loser for them,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “They are the surplus country. Their exports to the U.S. are five times our exports to China. So, they can raise their tariff, but so what?”

China has alleged that America is attacking its sovereignty and is violating international trading rules. 

“We will not let anyone take away the Chinese people’s legitimate right to development. We will not tolerate any attempt to harm China’s sovereignty, security and development interests,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Wednesday. 

After the tariffs took effect, stock futures in the United States fell again, with the Dow Jones Futures and S&P 500 falling more than 2% and the NASDAQ Futures falling 1.81% Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, treasury bond prices have dropped amid a selloff, and their yield jumped to 4.38%.  

The Trump administration expects many countries to come to the table to negotiate trade deals in light of the widespread tariffs imposed by the United States. According to the administration, more than 70 nations have already reached out to negotiate deals. 

On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump believed China would have to come to the table.

“He believes China has to make a deal with the United States. It was a mistake for China to retaliate,” she said. “The president, when America is punched, he punches back harder, that’s why there will be 104% tariffs going into effect on China tonight at midnight.”