Trump threatens extra 50% tariff on China
Newshour
BBC
4.4 • 984 Ratings
🗓️ 7 April 2025
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Donald Trump threatens China with additional 50% tariffs if Beijing does not withdraw its 34% retaliatory tariffs on Washington. If imposed, it could leave some US companies bringing in certain goods from China facing a 104% tax. It comes as US markets drop sharply again on opening, while Europe's biggest stock markets - including London's FTSE 100 - have all closed over 4% down.
Also in the programme: President Trump has been able to count on the support of Republicans in Congress since his inauguration. But are there signs of growing unease as the markets continue to tumble? And we go to South Africa for the Soccer Grannies World Cup, where the oldest player is over 80.
(Photo: US President Trump meets 2024 World Series Champions - Los Angeles Dodgers, Washington, USA - 07 Apr 2025. Credit: Shawn Thew /EPA-EFE/REX)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service coming to you live from our studios in central London. |
| 0:10.7 | I'm Julian Marshall. |
| 0:12.7 | For the fourth trading day running, there have been falls in global stock markets driven by fears that President Trump's tariffs imposed on almost every country last week |
| 0:22.6 | could cause a worldwide economic recession. |
| 0:26.3 | And rather than be alarmed by this tumble in the market, the Trump administration seems to be relishing the volatility. |
| 0:32.5 | The president himself spent the weekend fundraising and golfing despite the market carnage while his trade |
| 0:39.1 | advisor. Peter Navarro described it as a beautiful moment. And now Mr. Trump has singled out |
| 0:45.5 | China for further punishment, saying he'll impose an additional 50% tariff on China, |
| 0:51.7 | unless Beijing scraps its own plans to retaliate, |
| 0:55.4 | which would bring the U.S. tax on imports from China to over 100%. |
| 1:00.7 | Speaking earlier today, before the announcement, China's foreign ministry spokesman, |
| 1:05.4 | Lin Jiang, said U.S. self-interest was jeopardizing global stability. |
| 1:11.3 | The U.S. is seeking hegemony in the name of reciprocity, sacrificing the legitimate |
| 1:18.9 | interests of all countries to serve its own selfish interests and prioritizing the U.S. |
| 1:25.2 | over international rules. |
| 1:27.4 | This is typical unilateralism, protectionism, and economic bullying. |
| 1:33.9 | Well, that was Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Linjiang. |
| 1:38.7 | And speaking in the past hour at the White House, President Trump had this to say. |
| 1:43.0 | We have many, many countries that are coming to negotiate deals with us, and they're going |
| 1:48.6 | to be fair deals. And in certain cases, they're going to be paying substantial tariffs. |
| 1:55.0 | They'll be fair deals. As you know, I spoke this morning with the Prime Minister of Japan, |
| 2:01.2 | and we had a very good conversation. |
... |
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