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A deepening trade war could further weaken ties between the superpowers. The effects will reverberate everywhere.
April 10, 2025Updated 8:14 a.m. ET
A dizzying escalation of tariffs has unraveled a trade relationship between the United States and China forged over decades, jeopardizing the fate of two superpowers and threatening to drag down the world economy.
The brinkmanship displayed by the two countries has already far exceeded the battles they waged during President Trump’s first term. In 2018 and 2019, Mr. Trump raised tariffs on China over 14 months. The latest escalation has played out mostly over a matter of days, with levies that are far greater and apply to broader swath of goods.
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump countered China’s decision to match his 50 percent levy — a penalty for Beijing’s countermeasure to an earlier U.S. tariff — with an additional duty, raising the rate on Chinese imports to 125 percent.
April 9
125%
April 8
104%
President Trump raised tariffs on Chinese
goods multiple times this year, reaching 125%.
March 26
April 2
Feb. 10
54%
25% on steel
and aluminum
March 3
Feb. 1
20%
10% on all goods
April 9
84%
China refrained at first from retaliating with force, but as Trump kept going, China responded to Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs with equivalent levies.
April 4
34%
Feb. 4
March 4
10% on U.S. food and agricultural products
10% on natural gas, coal and farm machinery
April 9
125%
President Trump raised tariffs on Chinese goods multiple times this year, reaching 125% by Wednesday.
April 8
104%
March 26
April 2
54%
Feb. 10
25% on steel
and aluminum
March 3
20%
Feb. 1
10% on all goods
April 9
China refrained at first from retaliating with force, but as Trump kept going, China responded to Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs with equivalent levies.
84%
April 4
34%
March 4
Feb. 4
10% on natural
gas, coal and farm machinery
10% on U.S. food
and agricultural products
As hard as Mr. Trump has pushed, China has refused to back down. China has elevated its tariffs on goods imported from America to 84 percent. It pledged again on Thursday to “fight to the end,” an approach that is consistent with how Xi Jinping, the country’s top leader, has sought to redefine the global order — one with Beijing, not Washington, at the center.
“We are approaching a monumental train wreck breakup,” said Orville Schell, the Arthur Ross director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at Asia Society in New York. “The fabric that we so carefully had woven together over the last several decades is ripping apart.”
