U.S President Donald Trump doubled down and escalated the trade war on China while granting other nations a 90-day reprieve on “reciprocal” tariffs.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Trump administration bumped the tariff on Chinese goods to a whopping 125 per cent from the previously imposed 104 per cent, effective immediately. That was after China retaliated with an 84 per cent levy.
United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a news conference that countries other than China will still get a 10 per cent baseline tariff.
Asked whether the baseline applies to Mexico and Canada, Bessent said “yes.”
But that appears to be in contradiction to last week’s “Liberation Day” announcement that spared tariffs on Mexico and Canada, particularly for goods that comply with the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.
“China kept escalating and escalating,” Bessent said. “It was the president’s decision.”
The world’s largest economic powers are getting increasingly embroiled in a dangerous and unprecedented trade war that could knock out the global economy and drag Canada into a recession in the process, economists say.
“This is very frightening,” said Pau Pujolas, international economics professor at McMaster University. “We are on the verge of the collapse of world trade, which is going to be a disaster for everyone.”
“There is no angle in which any of these things is good for any Canadian.”
With files from Tonda MacCharles.
