China escalated its trade conflict with the United States on Wednesday, announcing that it would increase tariffs on American goods to 84%.
The move comes in direct response to a new round of US levies introduced by President Donald Trump, deepening tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
According to a statement from the Chinese government, the retaliatory tariffs will take effect on April 10.
The decision follows Washington’s latest duties, which went into force at midday Wednesday in Beijing.
With the new tariffs, the cumulative rate announced by the Trump administration this year now stands at 104%.
Beijing’s countermeasures were widely anticipated after Chinese officials earlier this week signaled they would “fight to the end” should Washington proceed with additional trade penalties.
US goods were already subject to a wide array of blanket tariffs imposed earlier in the year, as well as existing measures from both Trump’s first term and the Biden administration.
As part of the response, China added six companies to its unreliable entity list and included 12 US entities on its export control list, further restricting their access to Chinese markets and resources.
These designations are typically used by Beijing to penalize foreign firms seen as threatening national interests or participating in actions against Chinese businesses.
US stocks fall off a cliff
US stock futures pointed to more losses on Wednesday.
After China’s announcement, Dow futures dropped 558 points, or 1.5%, while S&P 500 futures declined 1.3%. Nasdaq-100 futures were down 0.9%.
Premarket trading reflected the strain. Apple slipped as much as 2% before trimming its losses. Ford and General Motors were down more than 2% and 1%, respectively.
The anxiety around tariff escalation has driven a four-day market selloff.
Volatility remained elevated Tuesday — the S&P 500 was up more than 4% at one point before closing down 1.6%.
The Dow rose nearly 4% intraday but ended 0.8% lower. The benchmark S&P is now down almost 19% from its record high.
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