Trump says China 'panicked' with tariff response

President Trump on Friday chastised China after Beijing responded to major U.S. tariffs with equal duties of its own on U.S. goods.

"China played it wrong, they panicked - the one thing they cannot afford to do!" Trump posted on Truth Social.

China's Finance Ministry announced Friday that it would impose a 34 percent tariff on imports from the United States, matching the 34 percent tariff the Trump administration announced on China earlier in the week as part of sweeping tariffs on more than 100 countries.

The retaliatory measure from Beijing escalates the risk of a global trade war as Trump digs in on his tariff policy. China is the second largest provider of imports to the United States and its third largest market for exports.

The stock market on Thursday suffered its worst day of losses since 2020 a day after Trump imposed a 10 percent universal tariff, with larger "reciprocal" rates on other nations, such as China, Japan, India, Thailand, Cambodia and the European Union.

The president is on track to raise import taxes by roughly $600 billion, according to analyst estimates, even as the economy already showed signs of slowing earlier this year.