US trade war with China grows more bloody as Trump ups the ante once more

The US has increased tariffs on Chinese goods to 125%, as the tit-for-tat trade war with America's biggest competitor hots up.

Stock markets will now be braced for more retaliation from China, following Wednesday's announcement of additional tariffs on US goods. Those are due to come into into force on Thursday.

It means tariffs of 84% will be enforced on US goods - up from the 34% China had previously planned, but they could still go higher. Tariffs latest: Trump claims world 'kissing my a**' for deals As part of a new complaint to the World Trade Organisation, China said the United States' decision to impose tariffs threatened to further destabilise global trade.

"The situation has dangerously escalated," China said in a statement. "As one of the affected members, China expresses grave concern and firm opposition to this reckless move." The White House has signalled the US has no intention of backing down, with the US responding by calling China back to the negotiating table.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had described China's retaliatory tariffs as "unfortunate" and a "loser" for China. Mr Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business Network: "I think it's unfortunate that the Chinese actually don't want to come and negotiate, because they are the worst offenders in the international trading system.

"Their exports to the US are five times our exports to China. They can raise their tariffs, but so what?" ????Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim on your podcast app???? The European Union is in discussion about its own retaliatory measures.

The European Commission said on Wednesday it had secured backing from EU countries and would press ahead with a first set of countermeasures from 15 April against US President Donald Trump's 25% import tariffs on steel and aluminium. The 27-nation bloc will put in place extra duties mostly of 25% on a range of US imports in response specifically to the US metals tariffs.

It is still assessing how to respond to the car and broader levies..