China's retaliation to Trump tariffs adds fuel to a global trade war

The slapping of a 34 per cent duty by China on all goods imported from the US is striking for how fast it came — just two days after US President Donald Trump, on April 2, unveiled his so-called reciprocal tariff policy. While that policy supposedly addresses what the US President terms as "asymmetries in trade relationships" with other countries, it follows and reinforces his earlier actions explicitly aimed at China. Trump had, in early February, imposed a 10 per cent blanket additional tariff on Chinese imports, which was doubled to 20 per cent a month later. Adding the latest…