President Donald Trump insisted Friday that his tariff policy was “doing really well” despite China hiking levies on US goods to 125 percent in the spiraling trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.
Investors dumped US government bonds, the dollar tumbled and stocks seesawed after Beijing’s retaliation against Trump deepened concerns on already traumatized global markets.
Trump sent financial markets into a tailspin by announcing sweeping import taxes on dozens of trade partners last week, only to abruptly roll them back to 10 percent on Wednesday for 90 days — while raising levies on goods from China.
“We are doing really well on our tariff policy,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social network after China announced its latest hike.
“Very exciting for America, and the World!!! It is moving along quickly,” he wrote.
The White House said later that Trump remained “optimistic” about a deal with China, and added that 15 other countries have offers “on the table” during his 90-day pause in their tariffs.
But Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt added that “the president made it very clear, when the United States is punched he will punch back harder.”
The US and Beijing have been trading salvos of increasingly harsh tariffs since last week.
