China punches back as world weighs how to deal with higher U.S. tariffs

BANGKOK (AP) — Countries and industries were scrambling Friday to respond as President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs hikes upend global trade and world markets.

China took the toughest approach so far, responding to the 34% tariff imposed by the U.S. on imports from China by matching it with a 34% tariff on imports of all U.S. products beginning April 10.

Trump was swift to criticize Beijing’s move. “China played it wrong, they panicked — the one things they cannot afford to do,” he wrote in a social media post, adding: “My policies will never change. This is a great time to get rich.”

Countries were taking different approaches as they sought a way to deal with the potential disruption to trade and supply chains.

Taiwan’s president promised to provide support to industries most vulnerable to the 32% tariffs Trump ordered in his “Liberation Day” reciprocal tariffs announcement.

Vietnam, where the US is a major trade partner, said its deputy prime minister would visit the U.S. for talks on trade.

Some, like the head of the EU’s European Commission, have vowed to fight back while promising to improve the rules book for free trade. Others like Britain said they were hoping to negotiate with the Trump administration for relief.

Fighting back

As with earlier countermoves to U.S. trade penalties, Beijing hit back with targeted action, as well as its universal 34% tariff on all products from the U.S.

The Commerce Ministry in Beijing said it will impose more export controls on rare earths, which are materials used in high-tech products such as computer chips and electric vehicle batteries. Included in the list was samarium and its compounds, which are used in aerospace manufacturing and the defense sector.

Another element called gadolinium is used in MRI scans.

China’s customs administration said it had suspended imports of chicken from two U.S. suppliers, Mountaire Farms of Delaware and Coastal Processing. It said Chinese customs had repeatedly detected furazolidone, a drug banned in China, in shipments from those companies.

Additionally, the Chinese government said it has added 27 firms to lists of companies subject to trade sanctions or export controls. For good measure, China also filed a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization, saying the U.S. tariffs were “a typical unilateral bullying practice that endangers the stability of the global economic and trade order.”

Seize the day

India was hit by a 26% tariff rate, lower than the 34% for Chinese exports and 46% for Vietnam. Its Commerce Ministry that it was “studying the opportunities that may arise due to this new development in U.S. trade policy.” It said talks were underway on a trade agreement, including “deepening supply chain integration.”

The U.S was New Delhi’s biggest trading partner in 2024 with two-way trade estimated at $129 billion, according to U.S. data.

They have set an ambitious target of more than doubling their bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030. Most pharmaceuticals and other medicines, important Indian exports to the U.S., are exempt from the reciprocal tariffs.

However, diamonds and other gems, another major export industry, are subject to the higher duties.

Looking elsewhere

Trump’s decision to sharply raise tariffs on countries spanning the globe is “self-defeating,” Wang Huiyao, president of the Chinese think tank Center for China and Globalization, said in an interview.

The latest tariffs impose heavy burdens on some countries in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

It’s a trade war with the world, Wang said, while China’s strategy is to trade more with Southeast Asia and Latin America, with Europe, the Middle East and other developing nations.

“The likely outcome is that China will become the largest trading nation and its economy will be trading more with other nations and the U.S. may … become more isolated,” Wang said.