BEIJING: China on Tuesday swiftly retaliated against fresh US tariffs, announcing 10 percent-15 percent hikes to import levies covering a range of American agricultural and food products, moving the world’s top two economies a step closer toward an all-out trade war.
Beijing also placed twenty five US firms under export and investment restrictions on national security grounds, but refrained from punishing any household names, as it did when it retaliated against the Trump administration’s February 4 tariffs.
Ten of these 25 US firms were targeted by China for selling arms to Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory.
China’s latest retaliatory tariffs came as the extra 10 percent duty US President Donald Trump threatened China with last week entered into force at 0501 GMT on March 4, resulting in a cumulative 20 percent tariff in response to what the White House considers Chinese inaction over drug flows.
China has accused the US of fentanyl blackmail and it has some of the toughest anti-drug policies in the world.
Analysts have said Beijing still hoped to negotiate a truce with the Trump administration, but the tit-for-tat retaliatory tariffs threaten to escalate into an all-out trade war between the two economic giants.
The new US tariffs represent an additional hike to preexisting levies on thousands of Chinese goods.
Some of these products bore the brunt of sharply higher US tariffs under former president Joe Biden last year, including a doubling of duties on Chinese semiconductors to 50 percent and a quadrupling of tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to over 100 percent.
The 20 percent tariff will apply to several major US consumer electronics imports from China that were previously untouched, including smartphones, laptops, videogame consoles, smartwatches and speakers and Bluetooth devices.
China responded immediately after the deadline, announcing it will impose an additional 15 percent tariff on US chicken, wheat, corn and cotton and an extra 10 percent levy on US soybeans, sorghum, pork, beef, aquatic products, fruits and vegetables and dairy imports from March. 10, the finance ministry announced in a statement.
“The US’s unilateral tariffs measures seriously violate World Trade Organization rules and undermine the basis for economic and trade cooperation between China and the US,” China’s commerce ministry said in a separate statement.
“China will firmly safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” the statement added.
China hits back at US imports as Trump’s fresh tariffs take effect
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China hits back at US imports as Trump’s fresh tariffs take effect
- Beijing also places 25 US firms under export and investment restrictions on national security grounds
- China has accused the US of fentanyl blackmail and it has some of the toughest anti-drug policies in the world
Musk, already world’s richest person, eyes $1 trillion fortune
- Musk topped the Forbes World’s Billionaires list for the second consecutive year
- He is the first person ever to surpass the $800 billion mark
NEW YORK: Elon Musk’s estimated $839 billion net worth has made him the wealthiest individual ever recorded, Forbes said Tuesday, as billionaires worldwide saw their combined fortunes surge in the past year to an all-time high of $20.1 trillion.
Musk topped the Forbes World’s Billionaires list for the second consecutive year after his fortune swelled by roughly $500 billion over the past twelve months, driven by rising valuations at Tesla and SpaceX, which is targeting a public offering in 2026.
He is the first person ever to surpass the $800 billion mark and is on course to become the world’s first trillionaire.
Musk’s monumental jump in wealth reflects a rollercoaster 2025 for Tesla that saw the electric vehicle maker’s stock price tumble through the spring amid consumer boycotts over the billionaire’s backing of Donald Trump and other far-right politicians.
But Tesla shares rebounded in the second half of 2025 after Musk exited his Trump administration role and have remained lofty. The Forbes list is based on valuations as of March 1, 2026.
Tesla champions believe the company is poised for stratospheric growth because of Musk’s access to cutting-edge technology in autonomous driving and artificial intelligence.
While Musk remains a polarizing figure with the general public, Tesla shareholders have consistently backed the billionaire.
In a November vote, shareholders endorsed a pay package worth up to $1 trillion if Tesla meets production and valuation targets, lifting Musk’s share of the company to about 25 percent.
Musk had suggested he could exit Tesla absent the package, saying ahead of the vote that he wanted a large enough stake to have a “strong influence” over the company as he builds a “robot army.”
Musk has said that less than 0.1 percent of his wealth is in cash.
David Kirsch at the University of Maryland said estimates of Musk’s wealth are inevitably “highly speculative” because a large share depends on equity assets whose valuations depend on whether anticipated growth pans out.
“If you were to measure the actual assets, it wouldn’t be $800 bn. It might be a third of that, which would still be more than the next person,” said Kirsch who characterized Musk’s fortune as “staggering” and “kind of unreal.”
- More billionaires -
Musk’s fortune amounts to more than three times that of the next names on Forbes’ billionaire list, which has grown to a record 3,428 individuals and is heavily populated at the top by other tech titans.
The cofounders of Google, Larry Page ($257 billion) and Sergey Brin ($237 billion) ranked second and third.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ranked fourth with $224 billion, while Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was fifth at $222 billion.
The current list has around 400 more billionaires than the 2025 Forbes compilation, a bounty propelled by a stock market surge due partly to bullishness about AI.
Trump moved up to 645th place from 700 a year ago. Forbes estimated Trump’s fortune at $6.5 billion, up $1.4 billion.
Major drivers of the US president’s rising wealth include hundreds of millions in wealth tied to cryptocurrencies he has promoted. Trump also benefited after a New York appeals court threw out a civil penalty of $518 million in a fraud case.
“Donald Trump’s second term as president has so far paid off handsomely for the billionaire head of state,” Forbes said.
“Whether striking deals in the Middle East, shilling his crypto coins or hosting luminaries at his properties, Trump has proven that he and his family are very much still in business.”
