China sanctioned US units of a South Korean shipping company on Tuesday, and Beijing has promised retaliatory measures on the industry in the latest tit-for-tat move over trade and tariffs.
The sanctions target five US units of Hanwha Ocean Co., helping fuel a global slump in equities as traders grow concerned over the escalating tensions between the US and China.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent slammed China saying: “This is a sign of how weak their economy is, and they want to pull everybody else down with them.”
President Trump later Tuesday said on Truth Social that he believes China is “purposefully not buying our Soybeans” and considers it an “Economically Hostile Act.” The president added that his administration is considering curtailing trade with the country as “retribution,” such as by blocking cooking oil imports.
The latest escalation came after Wall Street had breathed a sigh of relief on Monday as Trump hinted at a possible deescalation.
“Don’t worry about China, it will all be fine! Highly respected President Xi just had a bad moment. He doesn’t want Depression for his country, and neither do I. The U.S.A. wants to help China, not hurt it!!!” he wrote on Truth Social.
US-China tensions ratcheted up in earnest last week, when Trump said the US would impose an additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods starting on Nov. 1 over Beijing’s plan to impose new exort controls on rare earth minerals.
In addition to the mineral curbs, China has also slapped new port fees on US ships and launched an antitrust investigation into US-based Qualcomm (QCOM). Beijing has also halted purchases of US soybeans, scrambling business plans for US farmers.
Read more: What Trump’s tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet
US tariffs on China of nearly 145% in some cases are on hold until Nov. 10 while the two countries negotiate a larger trade deal. Chinese tariffs on US goods ballooned to 125% before the pause.
Here’s what else to know on Trump’s tariffs:
Americans are set to pay more than half of President Trump’s tariffs as companies raise prices, according to Goldman Sachs. Americans will likely bear the brunt of 55% of tariff costs by the end of the year, with US companies taking on 22%.
Early next month, the US Supreme Court is set to hear a challenge to Trump’s most sweeping tariffs — the “reciprocal” country-by-country duties that you can see in the graphic above. A ruling against the tariffs — which would be in line with lower-court decisions — could have significant ramifications for Trump’s tariff strategy.
New duties on kitchen cabinets and vanities took effect Oct. 1.
Tariffs on timber and certain wood products (like furniture) took effect Oct. 14.
LIVE 23 updates Tue, October 14, 2025 at 8:02 PM UTC Trump threatens trade ‘retribution’ against China over soybeans
President Trump threatened to institute new trade restrictions on China in the latest escalation between the two countries.
“I believe that China [is] purposefully not buying our Soybeans,” the president wrote on Truth Social, saying he considers it “an Economically Hostile Act.”
Trump added that his administration is considering curtailing trade with China as “retribution,” such as by targeting purchases of cooking oil from the country.
The impact of President Trump’s tariffs is expected to weigh on economic growth worldwide in 2025, according to the International Monetary Fund’s new World Economic Outlook released Tuesday.
“The outlook for the global economy continues to point to dim prospects, both in the short and the long term,” according to the IMF report.
Global growth is projected to decelerate to 3.2% this year from 3.3% in 2024 and skid further to 3.1% in 2026.
That growth forecast, little changed from the IMF’s estimates in July, reflects gradual adaptation to trade tensions. Growth is expected to be much lower than the pre-pandemic average of 3.7%.
And the IMF predicts much of the bite from tariffs could be yet to come. While the impact on rewiring of supply chains and inflation has been muted so far, the IMF said that may reflect a delay in higher prices and costs being passed through.
Very little of what would be expected to pass through to consumer prices has actually done so thus far, according to the IMF’s examination of certain goods. Household appliances, for instance, have reflected the cost of tariffs, but many categories, including food and clothing, have not, according to the IMF.
And companies may not be able to absorb higher tariff costs, as the US dollar has weakened with the onset of tariffs.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent did not mince his words in an interview with the Financial Times on Monday. Bessent said that China is trying to “bring everyone else down with them.” Bessent’s comments follow a series of back-and-forth moves between Washington and Beijing, which began when China imposed export restrictions on rare earths.
President Trump followed by threatening an additional 100% tariffs on China last Friday. But the US president appeared to change tack over the weekend, hinting at deescalation.
The FT reports:
Ericsson’s (ERIC) shares surged by 14% on Tuesday after the Swedish telecommunications company beat forecasts for its quarterly earnings growth and also shrugged off US tariffs.
Reuters reports:
China signaled on Tuesday that it intends to keep communications channels with the US open after a series of back-and-forth moves between Washington and Beijing intensified relations between the world’s biggest economies.
China’s Ministry of Commerce said “the door is open” in reference to talks between the two sides. However, Beijing also defended its decision to impose export restrictions on rare earths amid escalating trade tensions in recent weeks.
Reuters reports:
Tue, October 14, 2025 at 9:04 AM UTC From oil to the dollar: How US-China trade tensions are affecting markets
The latest trade tensions between the US and China has rattled markets. Here’s a list of all the assets affected by the latest tariff turmoil.
Currencies: The dollar (DX=F) fluctuated on Tuesday following China’s response to the US on tariffs. Risk sentiment fell as investors moved towards traditional safe havens such as the yen and Swiss franc.
Crypto: Cryptocurrencies bitcoin (BTC-USD) and ether (ETH-USD) continued to fall on Tuesday. Bitcoin dropped almost 3% to $111,950, while ether slumped 4%, falling below $4,000. The crypto market shed $150 billion amid the bubbling in US-China trade tensions.
Oil: Brent crude futures (BZ=F) fell 2% to $61.93 and US West Texas Intermediate crude (CL=F) also dropped 2% to $58.15 at 08:58 GMT, reversing earlier gains amid uncertainty around US-China trade relations.
China has responded to the US by sanctioning five US units of Hanwha Ocean Co. The move fueled a fall in global equities on Tuesday as concerns on rising trade tensions between the world’s largest economies grew among investors. Hanwha Ocean’s (042660.KS) stock dropped 8%, while shares of Chinese shipbuilders rose.
Bloomberg News reports:
Mon, October 13, 2025 at 3:50 PM UTC Goldman Sachs says US consumers will pay for over half of Trump’s tariffs
A new analysis from Goldman Sachs on Sunday suggested that US consumers will ultimately pay for more than half of the cost of tariffs.
The firm predicted that by year-end, 55% of the costs of the Trump administration’s tariffs will be paid by consumers, 18% will be paid by foreign exporters, and 5% will be evaded.
Unlike in 2019, the entirety of tariffs hasn’t been passed along to consumers yet, since “companies might be waiting longer this time” before raising prices to see if tariffs will remain in place amid legal challenges, the Goldman research team wrote. Companies may have also stockpiled inventory before the tariffs took effect to limit the impact.
“[Companies] have been absorbing the cost [of] the higher prices, and the way they absorb those higher prices is … by being incredibly efficient,” National Retail Federation chief economist Mark Matthews told Yahoo Finance. “You can’t be incredibly efficient forever, … eventually it will have to turn into job cuts and wage reductions, and that’s where the economy gets hurt.”
On Friday, US markets sold off after Trump posted on Truth Social that the US would impose an additional 100% tariff rate on China in response to the country’s rare earth export controls. Trump backtracked somewhat on Sunday, sending all three major indexes higher on Monday.
Goldman said, “We are not assuming any changes to tariff rates on imports from China, but events in recent days suggest large risks.”
Mon, October 13, 2025 at 1:15 PM UTC Canada seeks to ease China, India tensions as Trump digs in
Canadian foreign minister Anita Anand is traveling to New Delhi, Mumbai, Singapore, and Hangzhou, China, this week as the country seeks to strengthen ties with China and India to boost trade and investment.
Anand’s trip also comes as trade talks with the Trump administration remain fragile.
Bloomberg reports:
Mon, October 13, 2025 at 12:38 PM UTC Bessent still sees Xi-Trump meeting, says all options are open
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking to Fox Business on Monday, said that he still expects President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to meet. He also noted that all options are on the table for retaliating against China’s export controls on rare earths.
“He will be meeting with party chair Xi in Korea — I believe that meeting will still be on,” Bessent said, adding that there had been “substantial communication” over the weekend.
Trump threatened to cancel the meeting with Xi on Friday in a post where he also announced plans to impose additional tariffs of 100%, starting Nov. 1.
“This is China versus the world — they have pointed a bazooka at the supply chains and the industrial base of the entire free world, and we’re not going to have it,” Bessent said.
Read more here from Bloomberg.
China has warned the US to back off with tariff threats and said it will retaliate with higher tariffs. Beijing has already started to fight back with restrictions on the export of batteries. China has also urged for negotiations between Washington and the US to continue.
Bloomberg News reports:
President Trump and Vice President JD Vance looked to deescalate rising trade tensions between the US and China on Sunday, following Trump’s 100% tariff threat on Chinese exports last week.
The US-China trade war has rekindled after China placed more restrictions on its rare earth exports and said it would investigate US chipmaker Qualcomm (QCOM). Beijing has also announced a crackdown on Nvidia (NVDA) chips. This may have stirred up the Trump administration, which responded on Friday by saying it would place an additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods from Nov. 1.
Bloomberg News reports:
China stocks felt the full force of President Trump’s tariff threats with equities falling and bond futures climbing, as investors remained concerned over rising trade tensions between Washington and Beijing, despite Trump’s Truth Social post signaling a deescalation of the trade war.
Bloomberg News reports:
Mon, October 13, 2025 at 2:22 AM UTC China offers reply to Trump’s 100% tariffs
Bloomberg reports:
Sat, October 11, 2025 at 12:36 PM UTC Latest Trump tariffs rankle crypto markets, triggering record liquidations
The impact of President Trump’s latest tariff threat was felt across economic sectors Friday, including recently soaring crypto markets, Bloomberg reports:
Fri, October 10, 2025 at 9:26 PM UTC Trump says US will impose additional 100% tariffs on goods from China
President Trump followed through on a threat to sharply increase tariffs on Chinese goods on Friday afternoon, stating that the US will impose a hefty 100% tariff on China starting Nov. 1, which will be added on top of other existing tariffs.
In a social media post, Trump cited a letter China sent to other nations regarding export controls, which he said marked “extraordinarily aggressive position on Trade.”
“Based on the fact that China has taken this unprecedented position, and speaking only for the U.S.A., and not other Nations who were similarly threatened, starting November 1st, 2025 (or sooner, depending on any further actions or changes taken by China), the United States of America will impose a Tariff of 100% on China, over and above any Tariff that they are currently paying,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Also on November 1st, we will impose Export Controls on any and all critical software.”
Tariff jitters returned to Wall Street in a big way on Friday.
The Dow (^DJI) fell almost 900 points. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) lost 2.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) sank over 3.5% in their worst days since April. The moves came after President Trump renewed his tariff threats against China, specifically warning of a “massive increase” in duties.
The moves downward Friday cemented significant weekly losses, and it wiped out stock gains in October so far. The major indexes haven’t had a down month since May.
You can catch up on the day’s action in our markets live blog.
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) announced on Friday that it is launching an investigation into Qualcomm’s (QCOM) June acquisition of Autotalks, pulling the chip company into a growing number of firms ensnared in the ongoing economic tit-for-tat between the US and China.
In a statement, SAMR said Qualcomm’s acquisition is suspected of violating the country’s anti-monopoly laws, though it didn’t provide any further details on what element of the deal broke monopoly laws or how.
In a statement, a Qualcomm spokesperson said, “We are fully cooperating with SAMR in this matter. Qualcomm is committed to supporting the development and growth of our customers and partners.”
The announcement comes the same day President Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that the Chinese government is seeking to tighten its control over rare earth minerals. Trump went on to threaten a “massive increase” in tariffs on Chinese goods.