Trump Doubles Tariffs on $200 Billion of Chinese Goods Amid Trade Talks

President Trump's threatened 25 percent tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese exports took effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday, halfway through high-level trade talks in Washington, D.C., led by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He. The tariffs, up from 10 percent, will be in force for shipments leaving China on Friday, leaving negotiators a little time to hammer out an agreement. Both sides agreed the trade talks will continue Friday. China's Commerce Ministry said it "deeply regrets" Trump's decision and Beijing "will have to take necessary countermeasures." Economists say Trump's tariffs and the retaliatory tariffs from China are hurting both countries.

U.S. President Donald Trump, the morning after levying fresh tariffs on China, caused confusion among traders by tweeting there is “no need to rush" on China trade -- then deleting that and other tweets moments later.

An earlier tweet was deleted and reposted with minor changes.

S&P 500 futures have been steadily pulling back since the tweet was first published, and are trading near the day’s low.

Tariffs, he said, would make the U.S. "MUCH STRONGER, not weaker. Just sit back and watch!"

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why the tweets were edited.

China has said it will be forced to retaliate, though hasn’t yet specified how or when it will do so.

Discussions between President Xi Jinping’s top trade envoy and his U.S. counterparts in Washington made little progress on Thursday, with the mood around them downbeat, according to people familiar with the talks. The negotiations were due to resume later Friday morning Washington time.

Trump claimed Friday that money received from tariffs would be used to purchase agricultural products from U.S. farmers to ship to other countries for food aid. Trump also said waivers on some products would be granted "or go to new source," though he didn’t elaborate.

"In the meantime we will continue to negotiate with China in the hopes that they do not again try to redo deal!"

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