The U.S. increased tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods to 25% Friday as President Trump ratcheted up pressure on Beijing and threatened to impose additional levies on virtually everything China exports to the U.S.
The tariff hike went into force hours after U.S. and Chinese negotiators met Thursday in hopes of getting the troubled trade talks back on track. Discussions are set to resume Friday, but the White House said it had no plans to suspend the scheduled tariff increase, which will raise levies from the current 10%.
Beijing has said it would retaliate against the U.S. actions. As soon as the tariff increase took effect, the Chinese Commerce Ministry expressed regret and reiterated that Beijing “cannot but take necessary countermeasures.” It didn’t specify how or when Beijing would retaliate.
