China announced it is not only prepared for a tariff war, but any kind of conflict, including military, with the United States after being hit with a new increase in tariffs.
President Donald Trump increased the overall tariff on imported goods from China from 10% to 20%. The chief motive behind this increase is China’s involvement in fentanyl production and dissemination.
The Chinese Embassy posted on X (Twitter):
On Wednesday US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth responded to the Chinese Embassy. According to the New York Post, Hegseth addressed the country’s commitment to military strength on the show Fox and Friends:
“That’s why we’re rebuilding our military. That’s why we’re re-establishing deterrence in the warrior ethos. We live in a dangerous world with powerful, ascendant countries with very different ideology. They’re rapidly increasing their defense spending, modern technology, they want to supplant the United States. If we want to deter war with the Chinese or others, we have to be strong.”
The percentage of tariffs on Chinese goods is now 5% less than that applied to Canada and Mexico.
According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, “China was the top supplier of goods to the United States, accounting for 16.5 percent of total goods imports.” The dollar amount of goods imported from China was $563.3 billion. Following China is Mexico and Canada. Both nations have over $100 million dollars less goods exported to the US than China.
China announced a 15% tariff on US goods in retaliation to the increased tariffs. CNBC reports: “China’s retaliatory measures included raising duties on certain U.S. energy imports and putting two U.S. companies on an unreliable entities list that could restrict their ability to do business in the Asian country.”
On Thursday President Trump put a month-long pause on his proposed tariffs on Mexico and Canada. However, this pause applies only to goods falling under the USMCA Agreement.
