China strikes back at Trump tariffs with 15% levies targeting US farmers. China retaliated against President Donald Trump’s tariffs with an additional 15% tax on key American farm products. The escalating trade tensions punished US markets Monday as investors fearful of the damage from from Trump’s trade wars put their money elsewhere. Trump is set to remove exceptions on 25% steel tariffs he imposed in 2018 — effectively raising the taxes — and raise his levy on aluminum from 10% to 25%. Next month, he could plaster \”reciprocal tariffs” — meant to raise US tariffs to match higher tariffs imposed by foreign countries — on a wide range of imports from around the world. He believes the import taxes can raise money for the Treasury, protect American industries and pressure foreign countries to do what he wants in a range of issues, including immigration and drug trafficking. The Chinese tariffs, announced last week, were a response to Trump’s decision to double the levy on Chinese imports to 20% on March 4. US farm sales to China plummeted, then recovered after the two countries reached a truce in January 2020 and Beijing promised to buy more from U.S. farmers. American farm exports to China peaked at $38 billion in 2022, then fell to $29 billion in 2023 and $25 billion last year. In January, they were down 56% from a year earlier, according to the US Department of Agriculture.