Trump issues China with threat of more tariffs

On Friday, Beijing said it would be imposing 34% tariffs on imports from the US in response to America's tariffs of the same amount on Chinese imports.

Now, Trump has said US tariffs will rise to 50% if Beijing does't withdraw its tariffs.

In a post on Truth Social, the president said: "Yesterday, China issued Retaliatory Tariffs of 34%, on top of their already record setting Tariffs, Non-Monetary Tariffs, Illegal Subsidization of companies, and massive long term Currency Manipulation, despite my warning that any country that Retaliates against the U.S. by issuing additional Tariffs, above and beyond their already existing long term Tariff abuse of our Nation, will be immediately met with new and substantially higher Tariffs, over and above those initially set.

"Therefore, if China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th.

He added that all talks with Beijing would be "terminated" if they didn't withdraw their tariffs.

On Monday, markets in Asia and Europe plunged, and the trend was predicted to continue when Wall Street opened later in the day.

This is exactly what happened and things got even worse, with the Dow Jones sliding down to 4.4%, the S&P 500 losing 4.7% and the Nasdaq falling by 5%.

Shortly before the markets opened on the New York Stock Exchange, Trump took to Truth Social to seemingly try and call for calm by coining a new term – PANICAN, which he said was a “new party based on weak and stupid people.”

In the post, the president wrote: “The United States has a chance to do something that should have been done DECADES AGO. Don’t be Weak! Don’t be Stupid! Don’t be a PANICAN (A new party based on Weak and Stupid people!). Be Strong, Courageous, and Patient, and GREATNESS will be the result!”

Related: Emily Thornberry sums up the insanity of Donald Trump’s power