US president Donald Trump has threatened to raise tariffs on all Chinese imports to 25 per cent, sharply ratcheting up pressure on Beijing to make concessions in a make-or-break round of trade negotiations set for this week.
In a pair of tweets on Sunday, Mr Trump said that levies imposed on Chinese goods over the past year as part of the trade war with Beijing were “partially responsible for our great economic results” and had “little impact on product cost”.
He added that the current 10 per cent tariffs on $200bn of Chinese goods would rise to 25 per cent on Friday, and that $325bn of additional Chinese goods that were currently “untaxed” would “shortly” be subject to tariffs of 25 per cent.