Updated on April 4, 2025, at 13:08 ET.
BANGKOK – China is imposing retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods a day after President Donald Trump announced sweeping taxes on trade with most countries — the latest escalation of a trade war that could stunt economic growth worldwide.
China’s State Council Tariff Commission said an additional 34% tariff on imports from the United States will be imposed from April 10 — matching the new American tariff on China.
“This practice of the U.S. is not in line with international trade rules, seriously undermines China’s legitimate rights and interests, and is a typical unilateral bullying practice,” the commission said in a statement announcing its retaliatory tariffs.
China, the world’s second-largest economy after the United States, was already subject to a 20% tariff that Washington had imposed earlier this year when Trump demanded the country buy more American goods and stop the flow of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl.
Stock markets have cratered worldwide after Trump’s tariff announcement, indicating fears of a global recession. The U.S. stock market tumbled further Friday following China’s announcement.
When he announced the latest tariffs at a White House event, Trump singled out China as one of the “nations that treat us badly.” America’s trade deficit — the amount that imports exceed exports — with China was US$295.4 billion last year, the largest of any country.
Veteran Hong Kong financial analyst Joseph Ngan believes that China’s countermeasures will set a precedent that other countries are likely to follow.
“Since China is taking the lead in this round of retaliation, I believe other countries — particularly those in the Eastern EU bloc and Southeast Asia, which will also be heavily impacted — will inevitably respond with their own countermeasures,“ he told RFA Cantonese.
”Whether their tariff rates will match China’s depends on which side holds greater economic leverage,” he said.
Ngan said that the world’s economy has benefitted from free trade and globalization over the past 40 years, and that Trump’s tariffs have dealt a huge blow to that system.
The escalating tariff war has and will hurt all sides, Ngan said. In the United States, he predicts stagflation—a combination of rising inflation and economic stagnation.
The tariff war will cause China’s economy to slow further, said Sun Guoxiang, a business professor at the University of South China.
Premier Li Qiang had predicted that China’s economic growth this year will reach 5%, but the new round of tariffs will reduce GDP growth by 1 to 2.4 percentage points, Sun said.
Cambodian appeal
Southeast Asian nations were some of the hardest hit by the new U.S. tariffs, at nearly 50% in some cases.
Some corporations moved production to Southeast Asian nations such as Vietnam and Thailand from China after the first Trump administration, from 2016 to 2020, imposed tariffs on its global rival.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet wrote a letter dated Friday seeking negotiations and to hold off on the 49% tariff to be imposed from April 9.
Hun Manet said that Cambodia would immediately reduce its top 35% tariff rate on American goods to 5% percent in 19 product categories, including American whiskey and beef.
“Cambodia remains fully committed to engaging in constructive and productive dialogue with the U.S. government to further deepen our bilateral trade, so that both nations and peoples can enjoy the tangible benefits from these significant trade relations,” the letter said.
In Vietnam, meanwhile, the stock market plunged for a second day Friday after Trump announced a 46% percent tax on its exports, much of which are clothing and shoes.
On Friday, Trump posted on his Truth Social media account that he had spoken with Vietnam’s General Secretary To Lam, and that To Lam proposed reducing tariffs to zero if the two countries reach a consensus.
“I thank him on behalf of our country, and said I look forward to a meeting in the near future,” Trump wrote.
Trump’s tariff shock therapy is aimed at encouraging a revival of American manufacturing, which fell as a share of the economy and employment over several decades of global free trade and competition from production in lower-cost countries.
Any changes could take years as many American corporations have made substantial investments in overseas production. Manufacturing in the U.S., like elsewhere, also is reliant on components produced in other countries.
Additional reporting from RFA Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese and Khmer servcies. Edited by Taejun Kang and Malcolm Foster.
Updates with quotes from Chinese economic experts, Hun Manet’s letter to Trump, Trump’s phone call with Vietnamese leader To Lam.
