US President Donald Trump has furiously demanded China withdraw its 34 per cent retaliatory tariff against the US or face another 50 per cent duty on exports to America.

Trump on Monday (US time) threatened to drop his second tariff bomb on China, raising fears of an escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies as global stock markets went into meltdown.

Unless Beijing backs down, Trump vows he will impose an extra 50 per cent tariff on Chinese goods on April 9, on top of the 34 per cent tariff announced against China last week.

“If China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated!”

Trump faces mounting pressure in financial markets and from business leaders to backtrack on his tariff ambitions. Yet he has shown no signs of reversing course or finding a message to calm panicked markets.

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who backed Trump’s 2024 election campaign, took to X to call for a 90-day “time out” from the tariffs that he warned could trigger an “economic nuclear winter”.

“By placing massive and disproportionate tariffs on our friends and our enemies alike and thereby launching a global economic war against the whole world at once, we are in the process of destroying confidence in our country as a trading partner, as a place to do business, and as a market to invest capital,” wrote Ackman.

“The President has an opportunity to call a 90-day time out, negotiate and resolve unfair asymmetric tariff deals, and induce trillions of dollars of new investment in our country.

“If, on the other hand, on April 9th we launch economic nuclear war on every country in the world, business investment will grind to a halt, consumers will close their wallets and pocket books, and we will severely damage our reputation with the rest of the world that will take years and potentially decades to rehabilitate.”

Trump’s latest China attack injected further turbulence into global financial markets, which have fallen steadily since his “liberation day” announcement last week.

Earlier, China’s Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian said: “Putting the US first over international rules is a typical act of unilateralism, protectionism and economic bullying.”

Lin said the new tariffs harmed the stability of global production and supply chains and would have a serious impact on the world’s economic recovery.

“Pressure and threats are not the way to deal with China. China will firmly safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” he said.

Beijing struck a note of confidence even as markets in Hong Kong and Shanghai tumbled.

The People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s official mouthpiece, had strong words. “The sky won’t fall,” it declared, even if the US tariffs had an effect.

“Faced with the indiscriminate punches of US taxes, we know what we are doing and we have tools at our disposal,” it said.

It is unknown if China’s leader, Xi Jinping, will meet Trump to seek a deal on the tariffs. Lin directed questions about a possible meeting to other departments.

Over the weekend, Chinese government officials met a slew of American business representatives including for Tesla, GE Healthcare and others.

A 10 per cent tariff took effect on all global imports into the US on Saturday. Targeted duties of up to 50 per cent are due to snap into place on Wednesday.

US stocks briefly stopped their downward slide after a rumour that Trump was considering a 90-day tariff pause, then turned negative again after the White House dismissed the report as “fake news”.

The Republican President has insisted his tariffs are necessary to rebalance global trade and rebuild domestic manufacturing.

The European Union had offered the US an agreement on lifting all reciprocal tariffs on industrial goods, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday.

The EU remaineds ready to negotiate a solution despite the US tariff decisions, von der Leyen said, after an exchange with representatives from the steel and metals industries.

The US imposed tariffs of up to 25 per cent on imports of steel, aluminium and related derivative products from the EU and other trading partners in March.

“Sooner or later, we will sit at the negotiation table with the US and find a mutually acceptable compromise,” EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said.

Later on Monday, the European Commission proposed counter-tariffs of 25 per cent on a range of US goods in response to Trump’s hits to steel and aluminium, a document seen by Reuters showed.

The tariffs on some goods will come into effect on May 16 and others on December 1, the document said.

The goods are wide-ranging and include diamonds, dental floss, sausages, nuts and soybeans.

Bourbon, wine and dairy have been removed from the original list the Commission was weighing in March.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday his government would back its car manufacturers “to the hilt” after Trump on April 3 imposed a 25 per cent tariff on car imports.

Starmer described the tariffs as a “huge challenge”.

On Sunday, Trump said he would not back down, despite the turmoil in the global markets.

“Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” he said.

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Monday that Trump had talked to world leaders all weekend and would listen to proposals for great deals.

“He’s doubling down on something that he knows works, and he’s going to continue to do that,” Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said on Fox News.

“But he is also going to listen to our trading partners and if they come to us with really great deals that advantage American manufacturing and American farmers, I’m sure he’ll listen.”

Countries are lining up to make deals, Hassett said.

“In President Trump’s view is it’s these countries that are sending inelastic supply to the country, and so they’re going to bear the brunt of the tariffs,” Hassett said.

-with AAP, DPA and Reuters