Up next in 10
China retaliates as Trump's trade tariffs kick in
1K views
Apr 9, 2025
US President Donald Trump's new tariffs are now in effect. They include a whopping 104% duties on all Chinese good entering the US. Trump is insisting the tariffs will lead to bilateral deals that will boost the US economy, including with China. FRANCE 24's Washington correspondent Fraser Jackson has more.
View Video Transcript
0:00
Donald Trump's new tariffs are now in effect
0:04
They include a whopping 104% duties on all Chinese goods entering the U.S
0:10
Trump thinks China will have to make a deal as the U.S. is its biggest market
0:15
China, though far, standing firm and the situation is ramping up to an escalating trade war
0:20
that's been causing shockwaves in the markets. For the very latest on this now, let's bring in France 24's Washington correspondent, Fraser Jackson
0:28
Fraser, it's still very early there now, but we have heard that China has slapped on these retaliatory tariffs
0:34
Eighty four percent, that's 50 percent more than it was before. And this starting tomorrow
0:41
Yes, this is not going to go down well with the stock markets, which, of course, have been yo-yoing for the last few days and have been sliding before that
0:49
Well, this news before the market opens likely to impact things when that bell first rings at the beginning of trading
0:54
but of course China therefore not backing down. Donald Trump says that China wanted to make a
1:00
deal with the United States but they didn know how I think this move shows that China is not in the position that it wants to make a deal and it is ready to go until the end as they said in their statements just 24 hours ago This extra 50 percent then a retaliation to the 50 percent
1:18
that Donald Trump added on top of the U.S.'s reciprocal tariffs, which took that number
1:23
up to 104 percent. China's now, with the tariffs, is 84 percent. So that's going to impact
1:29
a massive amount of goods. Last year, the U.S. did over $440 billion worth of imports
1:36
from China. And that covers everything from textiles to electronics, machinery, things like
1:42
nuclear reactors even come from China. So it's going to have a significant impact on the US
1:48
economy as well. We are also hearing from Reuters news agency that China is discussing this week
1:54
amongst its top leaders how to stimulate its own economy in response to this now trade war
2:01
with the United States. And of course, it's not just China that's in this position. The EU
2:06
EU itself is also preparing to renounce retaliatory tariffs as well on US steel and aluminium
2:13
Interesting and important to note that it not related to the reciprocal tariffs which came into effect at midnight today that the Donald Trump administration has put on the EU But this is to do with the steel and aluminium tariffs that took place just a couple of weeks ago
2:29
But the U.S. so far not making any real friends among its friends at the moment
2:34
And the markets are certainly going to reflect that once they open in just a few hours time
2:40
Right. And on top of all of that, it seems like there's actually been some cracks that are starting to show within the Trump administration itself
2:47
I'm thinking particularly of that big blow up on X between Elon Musk and Trump's top trade advisor
2:54
Yeah, Elon Musk, who of course has been one of Donald Trump's key backers, has not been a fan of these tariffs
3:01
We heard from reporting in The Washington Post that he'd asked Donald Trump numerous times not to put these tariffs in place because he thought it was going to be an act of economic self-harm
3:13
And indeed, Elon Musk himself has also been very heavily impacted by these tariffs
3:19
It's estimated that he's lost over $35 billion worth of value, meaning that his value is now
3:26
less than billion for the first time since the election really Well he has been sparring on X on the platform formerly known as Twitter and of course the platform that he owns He been sparring publicly with Peter Navarro
3:39
who's Donald Trump's top trade advisor. Peter Navarro is somebody that Donald Trump has looked
3:44
to for years and whose fingerprints are all over this economic outreach plan that Donald Trump has
3:52
put in place over the course of the last week or so. And the two men have been going at each
3:57
other's throats, really. Donald Trump, sorry, Elon Musk in the last couple of days has called
4:02
Navarro as dumb as a sack of bricks. So no love lost really between those two men. Navarro has
4:10
been pushing back against Elon Musk online, but also on television as well. So there is a rift
4:17
starting to show here in the White House. Of course, Elon Musk, we are told, will be on the
4:21
out from the White House very soon. His contract time is technically running out at the end of May
4:27
but he's also been somewhat distant from the headlines over the course of the last couple
4:32
of weeks. Asked about this rift, Caroline Levitt, the press secretary at the White House
4:36
tried to play things down and said simply, boys will be boys. Fraser, thank you for that. Some incredible things that are coming out of the White House
4:43
right now. That's our Fraser Jackson, our Washington correspondent
#Business & Industrial
#news
#Politics
#World News