China threatens retaliation if U.S. doubles proposed tariffs

Xi Jinping.
(Image credit: Nicolas Asfouri-Pool/Getty Images)

China on Wednesday vowed to retaliate if the Trump administration goes through with a proposal to impose a 25 percent tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, Reuters reports. President Trump has not made a final decision on the plan, which is more than double the 10 percent tariff Trump in June instructed U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer to draw up on the goods, about 40 percent of what China exports to the U.S. every year. Beijing called the proposal "blackmail," and said it wouldn't work.

Trump is using tariffs to pressure China into making trade concessions to open its markets more to U.S. companies. A source told Reuters the Trump administration could announce the tougher plan as early as Wednesday.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.