Breaking | Trump raises China tariffs to 125%, pauses tariffs on most other nations for 90 days

Amid a global market meltdown, US President Donald Trump announced a further tariff hike on imports from China – to 125 per cent – on Wednesday, while putting a 90-day pause on punitive levies aimed at most other nations.

“Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately,” Trump said in a social media post.

“At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realise that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable.”

The US leader’s latest move narrows, at least temporarily, what had been the start of an unprecedented trade war against most of the world to one between Washington and Beijing.

Before the latest hike, Trump’s effort to bring Chinese officials to the trade negotiating table had brought the cumulative total of additional US import duties on Chinese products to 104 per cent.

Global markets surged on the development, but the details of Trump’s plans to ease tariffs on trading partners other than China were not immediately clear.