Tariffs live: Trump insists policy ‘doing really well’ despite China hiking levies on American goods to 125%

US president Donald Trump has insisted that his policy was “doing really well” despite China hiking levies on American goods to 125 per cent in a tit-for-tat response amid the ongoing trade war between the two biggest economies.

China’s tariff hike, hitting back against Trump’s decision to hike duties on Chinese goods to 145 per cent, will come into effect today.

“When people understand what we’re doing, I think the dollar will go way up,” he told reporters, downplaying the market turbulence.”The bond market’s going good. It had a little moment but I solved that problem very quickly.”

Beijing has vowed to “fight to the end” in an escalating trade war with the US.

Announcing it would lift tariffs on US goods to 125 per cent, a Chinese Finance Minister said the Trump administration’s repeated increase to tariffs “will become a joke in the history of the world economy”.

“However, if the US insists on continuing to substantially infringe on China’s interests, China will resolutely counter and fight to the end,” the spokesperson added.

The US has lifted tariffs on Chinese goods to 145 per cent, and earlier China’s foreign ministry spokesperson said that Beijing would ignore any further increases.

“Given that US exports to China are already commercially unviable at current tariff levels, any further US tariff hikes on Chinese goods will simply be ignored,” Lin Jian said.