BEIJING: President Donald Trump’s latest tariff hike on Chinese goods took effect Friday and Beijing said it would retaliate, escalating a battle over China’s technology ambitions and other trade tensions.
The Trump administration raised duties on $200 billion of Chinese imports from 10% to 25%. China’s Commerce Ministry said it would impose “necessary countermeasures” but gave no details.
The increase went ahead even after American and Chinese negotiators began more talks in Washington aimed at ending a dispute that has disrupted billions of dollars in trade and shaken global financial markets.
“The risk of a complete breakdown in trade talks has certainly increased,” said Michael Taylor of Moody’s Investors Service in a report.
American officials accuse Beijing of backtracking on commitments made in earlier rounds of negotiations.
The talks were due to resume Friday after wrapping up Thursday evening with no word on progress.
“China deeply regrets that it will have to take necessary countermeasures,” said a Commerce Ministry statement.
Shares in Asia were mixed Friday amid renewed investor jitters that global growth might suffer in the battle between the two biggest economies and international traders.
American business groups in China appealed for a settlement to resolve chronic complaints about market barriers and a regulatory system they say is rigged against foreign companies.
“There needs to be a deal that rebalances the economic relationship,” said an American Chamber of Commerce in China statement.
The latest increase extends 25% US duties to a total of $250 billion of Chinese imports. Trump said Sunday he might expand penalties to all Chinese goods shipped to the United States.
Beijing retaliated for previous tariff hikes by raising duties on $110 billion of American imports. But regulators are running out of US goods for penalties due to the lopsided trade balance.
Chinese officials have targeted operations of American companies in China by slowing customs clearance for their goods and stepping up regulatory scrutiny that can hamper operations.
The higher US import taxes don’t apply to Chinese goods shipped before Friday. By sea, shipments across the Pacific take about three weeks, which gives negotiators a few more days to reach a settlement before importers may have to pay the increased charges.
The negotiators met Thursday evening. Then, after briefing Trump on the negotiations, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin dined with the leader of the Chinese delegation, Vice Premier Liu He.
Liu, speaking to Chinese state TV on his arrival in Washington, said he “came with sincerity.” He appealed to Washington to avoid more tariff hikes, saying they are “not a solution” and would harm the world.
“We should not hurt innocent people,” Liu told CCTV.
At the White House, Trump said he received “a beautiful letter” from Chinese President Xi Jinping and would “probably speak to him by phone.”
The two countries are sparring over US allegations that China steals technology and pressures American companies into handing over trade secrets, part of an aggressive campaign to turn Chinese companies into world leaders in robotics, electric cars and other advanced industries.
This week’s setback was unexpected. Through late last week, Trump administration officials were suggesting that negotiators were making steady progress.
US officials say they got an inkling of China’s second thoughts about prior commitments in talks last week in Beijing but the backsliding became more apparent in exchanges over the weekend. They wouldn’t identify the specific issues involved.
A sticking point is US insistence on an enforcement mechanism with penalties to ensure Beijing lives up to its commitments. American officials say China has repeatedly broken past promises.
China wants tariffs lifted as soon as an agreement is reached, while US officials want to keep them as leverage to ensure compliance.
“A real enforcement mechanism is critical to ensure that neither side can go back on its commitments,” said the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai in a statement.
Also Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged Trump in a phone call to press China to release two Canadians who have been held for five months.
The men were detained in apparent retaliation after Canada arrested an executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei on US charges of bank fraud.
US hikes tariffs on Chinese goods, Beijing vows retaliation
US hikes tariffs on Chinese goods, Beijing vows retaliation
AI’s shift toward proactive healthcare
- Experts reveal how AI is reducing burnout and streamlining workflows
JEDDAH: Artificial intelligence is increasingly moving from the margins of healthcare innovation into its operational core. Rather than replacing clinicians, AI is being deployed to address persistent challenges across health systems, from administrative overload and staff burnout to fragmented data and inefficient patient flow.
Speaking to Arab News, Abbes Seqqat, chief executive officer of Rain Stella Technologies, and Eric Turkington, chief product officer, discussed how AI is already transforming healthcare delivery — and why its impact is most meaningful when embedded directly into clinical workflows rather than treated as a standalone tool.
Seqqat describes AI’s role as accelerating a structural shift in healthcare delivery. “AI is accelerating the shift in healthcare from reactive to proactive care, because AI fundamentally helps detect, analyze and predict,” he said, noting that many health systems lack the resources to perform these tasks at scale.
While AI use cases in healthcare are broad, Seqqat emphasized that the most effective applications today focus on operational and clinical fundamentals, including reducing administrative burden, identifying patient risks earlier, and capturing clinical data more reliably and in real time.
RST’s portfolio reflects this approach, spanning surgical data capture and workflow automation, cloud-based electronic medical records, and health information exchange. Across these systems, the common goal is improving data quality and usability so clinicians can spend less time managing information and more time delivering care.
According to Turkington, RST’s systems rely on a mix of established and emerging AI technologies.
“Across the portfolio, we are using a wide range of AI and predictive technologies, from voice technology to reliably capture clinician inputs, to large language models that analyze and act on collected data,” he said.
A key focus has been adapting AI to regional and clinical realities. Voice models, for example, have been trained on UAE and GCC accents and grounded in medical terminology to improve accuracy in real-world settings. RST also uses retrieval-augmented generation and multi-agent AI architectures, allowing different AI components to perform specialized tasks such as classifying surgical notes, identifying unusual events, or assisting with billing and coding, Turkington explained.
DID YOU KNOW?
• AI can detect, analyze, and predict patient risks faster than traditional methods.
• Systems like Equinox use voice input and predictive analytics to actively support clinical decisions.
• AI assistants provide real-time updates, automate documentation, and improve coordination in operating theaters.
One of the central concerns around AI adoption is whether it adds complexity to already demanding clinical roles. Seqqat argues the opposite should be the goal.
“For nurses and frontline staff, AI’s greatest contribution is removing the invisible administrative friction that leads to burnout,” Seqqat said.
In operating theaters, AI systems can replace manual coordination methods such as phone calls and whiteboards by providing real-time situational awareness. By automating updates, anticipating delays, and serving as an on-demand clinical notepad, AI reduces cognitive load and allows staff to remain focused on patient care, he explained.
RST’s voice-enabled assistant, Orva, is designed specifically for perioperative environments.
Turkington said it enables hands-free documentation and coordination, helping surgical teams manage schedules and resources more effectively.
By capturing live updates through voice input, Orva can surface delays, flag bottlenecks, and prompt coordination between departments. It also assists with documentation and coding, reducing errors and supporting more accurate reimbursement— an area where incomplete records often create downstream challenges.
Electronic medical records remain central to healthcare delivery, but Turkington noted that AI can move them beyond passive data repositories.
“We designed Equinox as an EMR that enables you to spend less time with the software and more time with patients,” Turkington said.
Through voice input, automated documentation from visual annotations, and AI-generated pre-visit summaries, the system can actively support clinicians rather than slow them down. Predictive analytics, such as identifying no-show risks or highlighting care gaps, further shift EMRs toward decision-support tools rather than administrative obligations.
Both executives stressed that AI’s effectiveness depends heavily on data access and quality. Seqqat pointed to interoperability as a prerequisite rather than an afterthought.
“AI is only as powerful as the data it can access,” he said, adding that fragmented records limit both clinical insight and system-wide learning.
Health information exchanges, such as RST’s Constellation platform, enable patient data to be viewed longitudinally across providers. AI can then assist with patient identity matching and population-level analysis, allowing trends and risks to be identified across large datasets.
Turkington shared an example from an operating theatre where AI helped prevent cascading delays. When a surgical case ran late, a nurse verbally updated Orva that the patient was ready to exit. The system alerted the recovery unit, analyzed schedule conflicts, and prompted management to reassign staff before delays affected subsequent procedures.
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By tagging the cause of the delay and feeding that data into predictive models, the system helped prevent similar issues in the future — without additional manual coordination.
According to Seqqat, the primary returns from AI adoption come from combining efficiency with financial accuracy. Streamlined workflows allow providers to treat more patients without compromising care, while improved documentation reduces revenue leakage.
Looking ahead, Seqqat sees AI becoming central to Saudi Arabia’s healthcare transformation. He described its role as advancing smart hospitals, predictive patient flow, and precision medicine aligned with Vision 2030 goals.
“The role of AI in Saudi Arabia’s healthcare sector is evolving from a supporting technology to a foundational pillar of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 transformation. Over the next few years, we expect to see AI move into the realm of smart hospitals, where predictive analytics optimize patient flow and AI-driven precision medicine leverages the Saudi Genome Program to provide hyper-personalized care. By unifying national health data and automating complex administrative workflows, AI will enable a more proactive, value-based healthcare model that improves patient outcomes and operational efficiency across the country.”
