<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>China has vowed to hit back after President Donald Trump announced major new tariffs on its exports to the United States as part of his radical overhaul of a century of American global trade policy.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump unveiled 54 per cent tariffs on all Chinese imports into the US on Wednesday, in a move poised to push a major reset of relations and escalate a trade war between the world's two largest economies.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"China firmly opposes this and will resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard its own rights and interests," China's Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on Thursday morning.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/donald-trump-tariffs-reciprocal-measures-what-are-they-retaliating-against-explained/c90a020c-70d4-47fa-8a42-f8954665783b" target="_blank"><strong><span>Trump used one key word to justify tariffs. The facts don't back him up</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The ministry slammed the move that stands as a centrepiece in Trump's effort to reshape the rules of international trade as "typical unilateral bullying practice," while urging the US to cancel the tariffs and "properly resolve differences with its trading partners through equal dialogue."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The United States has drawn the so-called 'reciprocal tariffs' based on subjective and unilateral assessments, which is inconsistent with international trade rules and seriously damages the legitimate rights and interests of relevant parties," the statement said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump's announcement on Wednesday adds 34 per cent so-called "reciprocal" tariffs to existing 20 per cent duties on all Chinese imports to the US. Since returning to power in January, Trump had already levied two tranches of 10 per cent additional levies on all Chinese imports, which the White House said was necessary to stem the flow of illicit fentanyl from the country to the US.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/china-vows-to-counter-trumps-bullying-tariffs-as-global-trade-war-escalates/2ff0d813-c83a-4267-8a6f-459c1159d7a9" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump unveiled the measures during an address in the White House's Rose Garden, where he separately announced an additional 10 per cent duties on all imports to the US and a host of country-specific measures that hit Asian countries particularly hard.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/donald-trump-tariffs-heard-and-mcdonald-islands-uninhabited-antarctica-islands-liberation-day/fecf2af6-03e7-4c9b-af44-17c0f633cec3" target="_blank"><strong><span>Trump places tariffs on uninhabited islands off coast of Antarctica</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>To skirt existing tariffs, some Chinese companies have shifted production to other Asian countries. But Trump's new tariffs on other Asian nations announced Wednesday will hurt China, too: Vietnam will face levies of 46 per cent and Cambodian goods will be tariffed at 49 per cent.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I have great respect for President Xi (Jinping) of China, great respect for China, but they were taking tremendous advantage of us," Trump said during his roughly hour-long address Wednesday. "They understand exactly what's happening and … they're going to fight."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Beijing responded swiftly, but moderately, to the previous rounds of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration this year. That retaliation included 10 per cent or 15 per cent duties on certain kinds of fuel, as well as agricultural goods like soybeans, wheat and chicken.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It's also sharpened a toolbox of measures to control exports, including of critical minerals, and target companies and sectors that it can use to exert pressure on American firms and interests.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>A US-China 'decoupling'?</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The 54 per cent minimum tariffs that Trump imposed on China are higher than what many analysts had expected and could fundamentally reshape relations between the two economies after decades of interdependence.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trade between the two countries was worth an estimated $US582.4 billion ($AUD925 billion) in 2024, according to US government data.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"This is really going to refocus that question on US-China economic decoupling," said Nick Marro, principal economist for Asia at the Economist Intelligence Unit.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump's move may force multinational companies with business in China to reevaluate the practice of keeping operations in the country, even as they enter other markets to diversify their supply chains, he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But that process "is going to be difficult," he added.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/burwood-fraud-police-charge-sydney-man-after-alleged-eightyearlong-con-worth-13-million/8870cd68-1cdc-4ba7-9f90-071f0d1a13f2"><strong><span>'An act of betrayal': Man accused of using son's death to defraud $1.3m</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"China is very embedded into global production networks ranging from finished goods to intermediate products to even the sourcing of raw materials, and so this is not going to be an easy or straightforward process," Marro added.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Countries that Chinese and international firms have been moving to as they diversified their supply chains in recent years, such as Vietnam and Cambodia, have also been hit hard by Trump's tariffs, further complicating such considerations.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The tariffs also come at a challenging time for China's slowing economy, with officials in recent weeks ramping up efforts to spur weak domestic consumption as they braced for a widening trade war.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Meanwhile, extensive US grievances around China's economic model, such as its treatment of foreign businesses, its use of state subsidies, forced intellectual property localization and technology transfers could mean more escalation may come, according to Marro. "All of these triggers could lead us to even higher tariff rates," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Tit for tat?</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The US tariffs already had levies on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Chinese imports into the country.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Many of those duties were holdovers from Trump's first term in office, when he launched his first trade war with China that resulted in a "phase one" trading agreement that analysts say Beijing never fully implemented. The former Biden administration then ratcheted up tariffs on some additional Chinese goods, including a 100% rate on electric vehicles last year.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>This time around, China will likely respond with precision, analysts say.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Rather than broad retaliation, expect a playbook of calibrated pressure: new tariffs on politically sensitive US exports like agriculture and industrial machinery, expanded use of the 'Unreliable Entity List' to target high-profile US firms, and selective export controls on critical inputs," said Craig Singleton, a senior fellow at the US-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies.</span></div></div><div class="styles__Wrapper-sc-2o34ro-0 cmwkBV"><div class="styles__Column-sc-2o34ro-3 jJDKrX"><a href="/content/2025/04/01/11/52/federal-election-2025-campaign-in-pictures"><img alt="Anthony Albanese falling off a stage during the election campaign." sizes="(min-width: 1024px) 636px, (min-width: 768px) 396px, 100vw" src="https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/8cXzn2KNhx6wDAoK0RzPC3gcaQg=/396x223/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2Ff323b9ca-bd22-4ecb-8caa-81d1ac241bd0" srcset="https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/8cXzn2KNhx6wDAoK0RzPC3gcaQg=/396x223/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2Ff323b9ca-bd22-4ecb-8caa-81d1ac241bd0 396w, https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/_fAWvHrhL1FsdUTuplfBPhlohng=/636x358/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2Ff323b9ca-bd22-4ecb-8caa-81d1ac241bd0 636w"/></a></div><div class="styles__Column-sc-2o34ro-3 jJDKrX"><div class="styles__Headline-sc-2o34ro-4 hpbOlz">Prime minister falls off stage on election campaign trail</div><div class="styles__Button-sc-2o34ro-1 eBjlmW"><a class="styles__ButtonLink-sc-2o34ro-2 hqpklJ" href="/content/2025/04/01/11/52/federal-election-2025-campaign-in-pictures">View Gallery</a></div></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"If (Chinese leader Xi Jinping) refuses to engage, the pressure escalates. If he engages too soon, he risks looking weak. Neither (leader) wants to be seen as folding first, but delay could deepen the standoff," he added.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But as Trump's sweeping move shakes up US economic relationships with both friend and foe, Beijing may see some silver lining, analysts say.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In recent weeks, Beijing has launched a charm offensive seeking to showcase itself as a champion of global trade and a reliable partner for companies and countries from East Asia to Europe.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>With the US becoming an "unpredictable partner," East Asian economies like Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are likely to reassess their relations with the US, which could potentially benefit China, according to Jason Hsu, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a US think tank, and a former legislator in Taiwan.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Japan and Korea, the bigger economies, they are still in no position to retaliate against US, but what they could do is to quietly develop a relationship with China to re-engage, to reassess Chinese market opportunities," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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