China vows to ‘fight to the end’ if Trump raises tariffs to 104%

HONG KONG — China said Tuesday it will “fight to the end” if President Donald Trump imposes an additional 50% tariff on Chinese goods as many countries rush to negotiate trade with the United States.

If the plan is fully implemented, the total tariffs on goods imported into the United States from China would be as much as 104%. In response, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said China “firmly opposes” Trump’s tariff threats, calling its previous countermeasures “entirely justified.”

“If the U.S. insists in its own way, China will fight to the end,” the ministry said in a statement Tuesday, adding that Trump’s threat to escalate tariffs on China is a “mistake upon a mistake.”

The Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday on Trump’s threat of an additional 50% tariff.

Trump threatened the new 50% duty on China, effective Wednesday, if Beijing does not withdraw its 34% tariffs on all U.S. goods by Tuesday, which China imposed in retaliation for the levies on Chinese goods the Trump administration announced last week.

“Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated!” Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social. “Negotiations with other countries, which have also requested meetings, will begin taking place immediately.”

Beijing’s retaliatory tariffs are scheduled to take effect Thursday.

The Commerce Ministry urged the United States to cancel all unilateral tariff measures against China and resolve trade disputes through dialogue.

“Pressure and threats are not the correct way to deal with China,” it said. “China reiterates that there are no winners in a trade war, and protectionism leads nowhere.”

“China will resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard its own interests,” it added.

Stocks in mainland China and Hong Kong rose Tuesday as Beijing scrambles to stabilize its markets amid panic over Trump’s tariffs, with Chinese state-backed funds pledging to buy local stocks.

The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong climbed about 1.58% as of 12:10 p.m. local time (12:10 a.m. ET Tuesday) after its biggest single-day decline in nearly three decades following China’s tariff retaliation against the U.S. China’s blue-chip CSI 300 Index rose 0.9% after a plummet of 7% on Monday.

China will hit back at Trump with the same 50% duties if he proceeds with his threat, said Andy Xie, an independent economist in Shanghai.

“If Trump wants to take you to hell, you take him with you,” Xie said of China’s possible response in a phone interview Tuesday.

Xie said he thinks Beijing has concluded that compromise will only lead to more pressure from Trump. “China cannot back down anymore,” he said.

Trump’s 50% tariff threat doesn’t make a lot of difference, Xie added, as Chinese goods have already faced over 70% U.S. duties accumulated since Trump’s first term.

China has decreased its dependence on the American market, with its exports to the U.S. dropping to 14.7% in 2024, down from 19.2% in 2018 when Trump started the trade war with the world’s second largest economy, according to the country’s state media People’s Daily.

“China [and] the United States will decouple. It’s a matter of time,” Xie said. “You have to bite the bullet.”

Trump said Sunday that China could get a reduction in tariffs if it approves a deal to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations. He confirmed reports that China and the United States had been “pretty close” to a deal over the video sharing app but said Beijing backed out because of the additional 34% tariff he announced on Chinese goods last week.

“If I gave a little cut in tariffs, they’d approve that deal in 15 minutes, which shows you the power of tariffs,” he told reporters on Air Force One.

However, the president on Monday seemed to backtrack, saying that he is not looking to pause his tariffs on China before they go into effect Wednesday, despite turmoil in the stock market and global economic fears.