'US No Longer Dumb And Helpless', Says Trump Amid Tariff War With China

Amid the global tariff war triggered by the Liberation Day rollouts, US President Donald Trump on Saturday defended his decision to impose huge tariffs on Chinese goods, saying that America is done being a "dumb and helpless whipping post” in global trade.

Trump's remark came in connection with China's warning to Washington on using tariffs as economic “weapons.” Earlier this week, Trump imposed an additional 34 per cent tariff on Chinese goods, raising total US duties on imports from China this year to 54 per cent.

Triggered by the move, Beijing in retaliation announced on Friday that it would introduce an additional 34 per cent tariff on all American goods. The Chinese tariffs will take effect on April 10.

What Did Trump Say?

“China has been hit much harder than the USA, not even close. They, and many other nations, have treated us unsustainably badly. We have been the dumb and helpless ‘whipping post,’ but not any longer,” Trump said on his social media handle.

“We are bringing back jobs and businesses like never before. Already, more than 5 trillion dollars of invesrment, and rising fast. This is an economic revolution, and we will win. Hang tough, it won’t be easy, but the end result will be historic. We will, make America great again,” he added.

China Imposes 34 Percent Additional Retaliatory Tariff On US Goods

China's Ministry of Finance announced on April 4 that it will impose an additional 34 per cent tariff on all US goods starting April 10, marking a retaliatory action in response to President Donald Trump's tariffs. The ministry also revealed new export controls on key medium and heavy rare-earth elements—such as samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium—effective April 4.

In addition to the tariffs and export restrictions, Beijing has added 11 foreign entities to its "unreliable entity" list, granting authorities the ability to impose punitive measures on them. The Ministry of Commerce stated, "The purpose of China's export controls is to better protect national security and interests, as well as fulfill international obligations like non-proliferation."

On Saturday, China라이브 바카라 foreign ministry said it would “continue to take resolute measures to safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests.” It also urged the US to “stop using tariffs as a weapon to suppress China라이브 바카라 economy and trade, and stop undermining the legitimate development rights of the Chinese people,” news agency Reuters reported.

Responding to Beijing라이브 바카라 decision, Trump on Wednesday said, “China played it wrong, they panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do.”

Trump's Tariff Spree

Right after assuming the office for his second tenure as the US president, Trump said that he could put 25 percent trade tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting on February. For products from China, Trump announced a levy of 60 percent levy.

In his inaugural address, Trump pledged that tariffs would be imposed and said foreign countries would be paying the trade penalties, even though those taxes are currently paid by domestic importers and often passed along to consumers

However, a day after pausing planned tariffs for at least a month for Mexico, US President Donald Trump on February 4 agreed to do the same with Canada after a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. However, Trump's tariffs against China are still slated to go into effect on Tuesday.

On February 3, Trump paused the tariffs it imposed on Mexico. In a tweet, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, President of Mexico in her conversation with USA President Donald Trump said that the tariffs have been paused for a month. 

Later, he threatened the European Union with a 200 percent retaliatory tariff on European wine, champagne, and spirits if the European Union went forward with a planned tariff on American whiskey. The European tariff was expected to go into effect on April 1.

Trump has also threatened Canada with new tariffs targeting Canadian lumber and dairy products. Citing Canada's roughly 250% tariff on US dairy exports to the country, President Trump said in an Oval Office address, "Canada has been ripping us off for years on lumber and on dairy products," CNN reported.

Moreover, he doubled his planned tariffs on steel and aluminum products imported from Canada to 50 percent. The move came in response to Ontario's decision to impose a 25 percent tariff on its electricity exports to the United States.

More recently, Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on imports from countries purchasing oil or gas from Venezuela. Taking it to his social media platform Truth Social, Trump announced that Venezuela has been “very hostile” to the US and countries purchasing oil from it will be forced to pay the tariff on all their trade to the US starting April 2.