The Trump administration went ahead and hit China with significantly steeper tariffs in a sharp escalation of the damaging trade war between the two economic giants. U.S. and Chinese negotiators talked long into Thursday evening, but they failed to prevent the doubling of tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese products from coming into effect Friday morning. In turn, China’s commerce ministry said it “deeply regrets” the decision and threatened that Beijing “will have to take necessary countermeasures.” The talks are set to resume later Friday after discussions ended without any sign of progress. “The risk of a complete breakdown in trade talks has certainly increased,” said Michael Taylor of Moody’s Investors Service, according to AP. A spokesperson for the Chinese commerce ministry added: “We hope that the U.S. and China will meet each other halfway and make joint efforts to solve the existing problems through cooperation and consultation.”
