Trump's 104 percent tariff on Chinese goods takes effect

President Trump's tariffs on imports from dozens of countries came into force Wednesday, including 104% on goods from China, dramatically ramping up a potential global trade war. The tariffs took effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told a briefing Tuesday that the tariffs are designed to open negotiations with U.S. trading partners. "To countries around the world, bring us your best offers and he will listen," Leavitt said of Mr. Trump. "Deals will only be made if they benefit American workers."

Mr. Trump said Tuesday his administration was working on "tailored deals" with trading partners, and the White House said it would prioritize allies like Japan and South Korea.

His top trade official, Jamieson Greer, told a Senate panel Argentina, Vietnam and Israel were among those who had offered to reduce their tariffs. The president told a dinner with fellow Republicans Tuesday night that countries were eager to make a deal.

But Beijing has shown no signs of standing down, vowing to fight a trade war "to the end" and promising countermeasures to defend its interests.

China's retaliatory tariffs of 34 percent on U.S. goods are due to take effect Thursday.

The president says his policy will revive America's lost manufacturing base by forcing companies to relocate to the United States.

But many business experts and economists question how quickly- if ever- that could happen, warning of higher inflation as the tariffs raise prices. Trump said Tuesday the United States was "taking in almost $2 billion a day" from tariffs.

He originally unveiled a 34 percent additional tariff on Chinese goods. But after China countered with its own tariff of the same amount on American products, the president added another 50 percent duty.

Counting existing levies imposed in February and March, that takes the cumulative tariff increase for Chinese goods during Mr. Trump's second presidency to 104 percent.

He has insisted the ball was in China's court, saying Beijing "wants to make a deal, badly, but they don't know how to get it started." Late Tuesday, Mr. Trump also said the United States would announce a major tariff on pharmaceuticals "very shortly."

The Chinese premier told von der Leyen his country could weather the storm, saying it "is fully confident of maintaining sustained and healthy economic development."