President Trump’s not in a tariff war with China, he’s engaging in negotiations to equalize the rates. Trump is no longer going to accept the United States being the world’s patsy. In other words, fair trade not free trade.
The U.S. imports over $450 billion a year from China, at unequal rates that favored China for decades. $60 billion is peanuts. Remember that China imports very little from the US. Whereas, we buy a ton of stuff from them.
As for this move on the part of China to raise tariffs, that’s normal. If there were no gestures like this or other breakdowns in talks, it would mean we’re about to be screwed again—just like in the Iranian deal. Iran got everything and we got nothing thanks to Kerry and Obama’s fecklessness. Nothing like that’s gonna happen under President Trump’s watch. That I can tell you.