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The US said yesterday that 104 per cent duties on imports from China will take effect shortly after midnight, even as the Trump administration moved to quickly start talks with other trading partners targeted by President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff plan.
Global markets steadied after days of carnage prompted by Trump’s sweeping levies, which have raised fears of recession and upended a global trading order that has been in place for decades. US stocks posted gains after a bruising selloff that has wiped out trillions of dollars since last week.
Trump has already implemented a 10pc tariff on almost all imports to the world’s largest consumer market, and targeted tariffs of up to 50pc on many trading partners are due to take effect today. China has refused to bow to what it called “blackmail” and vowed to “fight to the end” after Trump threatened to ratchet up tariffs to 104pc in response to China’s decision to match “reciprocal” duties Trump announced last week.
Trump indicated that a resolution might be possible.
“China also wants to make a deal, badly, but they don’t know how to get it started. We are waiting for their call. It will happen!” he said on social media.
Administration officials, however, said China would take a back seat to other countries in trade talks.
“Right now, we’ve received the instruction to prioritise our allies and our trading partners like Japan and Korea and others,” White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Fox News.
Trump said Japan is sending a team to negotiate on trade, adding that he spoke earlier on Monday with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who separately said he told Trump to rethink tariff policies. Trump’s decision to impose a 25pc levy on car imports, and a reciprocal 24pc tariff on other Japanese goods, is expected to deal a huge blow to Japan’s export-heavy economy. Analysts predict the higher duties could knock up to 0.8pc off economic growth.
“Countries from all over the world are talking to us. Tough but fair parameters are being set,” Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform.
Trump has put Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in charge of trade negotiations with Japan, Bessent said on social media.
Indian Trade Minister Piyush Goyal said discussions with the US on a potential bilateral trade agreement are “moving in the right direction”.
Trump said he discussed tariffs, shipbuilding and potential energy deals in a “great call” with South Korea’s acting President Han Duck-soo yesterday, a day before a 25pc tariff on the Asian ally is scheduled to kick in.
“We have the confines and probability of a great DEAL for both countries. Their top TEAM is on a plane heading to the US, and things are looking good,” Trump said.
Dozens of other governments have reached out as well, and Vietnam and Indonesia have offered to cut tariffs on some US imports.
“The president has been clear, again, that he’s not doing exemptions or exceptions in the near term,” Greer told legislators. China is bracing for a war of attrition, and manufacturers of goods from tableware to flooring are warning about profits, and scrambling to plan new overseas plants.
Some companies are warning they will hike prices. Chipmaker Micron told customers it will impose a tariff-related surcharge starting today.
As the world’s two biggest economies traded blows, China’s Foreign Ministry criticised as “ignorant and impolite” the comments made by Vice President JD Vance in a recent Fox News interview.
While defending Trump’s tariffs, Vance criticised the US economic model as harming its own workers: “We borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture.”
Stock markets found a firmer footing yesterday after a gut-wrenching few days for investors which prompted some business leaders, including those close to Trump, to urge the president to reverse course. European shares bounced off 14-month lows after four straight sessions of heavy selling, while global oil prices steadied after falling to four-year lows. Wall Street’s main indexes bounced back as well on hopes that Trump might ease his tariffs.
The European Commission, meanwhile, is mulling counter-tariffs of 25pc on a range of US goods including soybeans, nuts and sausages, though other potential items like bourbon whiskey were left off the list. Officials said they stood ready to negotiate.
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