Unbelievably egoistical

The world’s been in turmoil since 02 April 2025, when the maddest madman alive—some say the most egoistical maniac since Emperor Nero—decided to slap tariffs on almost the entire planet, including some unheard-of, uninhabited island somewhere near Antarctica. Whatever twisted strategy it was meant to be, it brought the global stock markets crashing to their knees, wiping out trillions of dollars in value.

And what happened at the end of the day? Donald Trump claimed almost every country came crawling back to, in his own words, kiss his ass. What an idiot. He insults the world, then boasts when others return just to thank him for capping the damage at a mere 10 percent tariff.

But Xi Jinping isn't one for blinking. Maybe it is out of principle, pride or ideology, whatever, China isn't blinking.

When the world’s two biggest economies go head-to-head in a tariff war, who really expects either to back down? It’ll be tit-for-tat until—who knows—kingdom come? One thing’s certain: trade between China and the United States is heading for a near-standstill. Imagine this—imports from China hit with a 125 percent tariff, and goods from the US slapped with an 84 percent duty and likely to climb higher soon.

And China? I'm certain that they've still got weapons to unleash and inflict pain on the United States. Cutting off rare earth exports to the US, for one. Dumping US Treasury securities, for another. As for what cards the US has left up its sleeve—I honestly don’t know.

Trump's chart of tariffs

The tariff rates on US imports that were originally threatened, and those that were announced after the pause on the 9th of April:

Table with 3 columns and 185 rows. Currently displaying rows 1 to 185.

	China	34%	125%
	European Union	20%	10%
	Vietnam	46%	10%
	Taiwan	32%	10%
	Japan	24%	10%
	India	26%	10%
	South Korea	25%	10%
	Thailand	36%	10%
	Switzerland	31%	10%
	Indonesia	32%	10%
	Malaysia	24%	10%
	Cambodia	49%	10%
	United Kingdom	10%	10%
	South Africa	30%	10%
	Brazil	10%	10%
	Bangladesh	37%	10%
	Singapore	10%	10%
	Israel	17%	10%
	Philippines	17%	10%
	Chile	10%	10%
	Australia	10%	10%
	Pakistan	29%	10%
	Turkey	10%	10%
	Sri Lanka	44%	10%
	Colombia	10%	10%
	Peru	10%	10%
	Nicaragua	18%	10%
	Norway	15%	10%
	Costa Rica	10%	10%
	Jordan	20%	10%
	Dominican Republic	10%	10%
	United Arab Emirates	10%	10%
	New Zealand	10%	10%
	Argentina	10%	10%
	Ecuador	10%	10%
	Guatemala	10%	10%
	Honduras	10%	10%
	Madagascar	47%	10%
	Myanmar	44%	10%
	Tunisia	28%	10%
	Kazakhstan	27%	10%
	Serbia	37%	10%
	Egypt	10%	10%
	Saudi Arabia	10%	10%
	El Salvador	10%	10%
	Côte d’Ivoire	21%	10%
	Laos	48%	10%
	Botswana	37%	10%
	Trinidad and Tobago	10%	10%
	Morocco	10%	10%
	Algeria	30%	10%
	Oman	10%	10%
	Uruguay	10%	10%
	Bahamas	10%	10%
	Lesotho	50%	10%
	Ukraine	10%	10%
	Bahrain	10%	10%
	Qatar	10%	10%
	Mauritius	40%	10%
	Fiji	32%	10%
	Iceland	10%	10%
	Kenya	10%	10%
	Liechtenstein	37%	10%
	Guyana	38%	10%
	Haiti	10%	10%
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	35%	10%
	Nigeria	14%	10%
	Namibia	21%	10%
	Brunei	24%	10%
	Bolivia	10%	10%
	Panama	10%	10%
	Venezuela	15%	10%
	North Macedonia	33%	10%
	Ethiopia	10%	10%
	Ghana	10%	10%
	Moldova	31%	10%
	Angola	32%	10%
	Democratic Republic of the Congo	11%	10%
	Jamaica	10%	10%
	Mozambique	16%	10%
	Paraguay	10%	10%
	Zambia	17%	10%
	Lebanon	10%	10%
	Tanzania	10%	10%
	Iraq	39%	10%
	Georgia	10%	10%
	Senegal	10%	10%
	Azerbaijan	10%	10%
	Cameroon	11%	10%
	Uganda	10%	10%
	Albania	10%	10%
	Armenia	10%	10%
	Nepal	10%	10%
	Sint Maarten	10%	10%
	Falkland Islands	41%	10%
	Gabon	10%	10%
	Kuwait	10%	10%
	Togo	10%	10%
	Suriname	10%	10%
	Belize	10%	10%
	Papua New Guinea	10%	10%
	Malawi	17%	10%
	Liberia	10%	10%
	British Virgin Islands	10%	10%
	Afghanistan	10%	10%
	Zimbabwe	18%	10%
	Benin	10%	10%
	Barbados	10%	10%
	Monaco	10%	10%
	Syria	41%	10%
	Uzbekistan	10%	10%
	Republic of the Congo	10%	10%
	Djibouti	10%	10%
	French Polynesia	10%	10%
	Cayman Islands	10%	10%
	Kosovo	10%	10%
	Curaçao	10%	10%
	Vanuatu	22%	10%
	Rwanda	10%	10%
	Sierra Leone	10%	10%
	Mongolia	10%	10%
	San Marino	10%	10%
	Antigua and Barbuda	10%	10%
	Bermuda	10%	10%
	Eswatini	10%	10%
	Marshall Islands	10%	10%
	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	10%	10%
	Saint Kitts and Nevis	10%	10%
	Turkmenistan	10%	10%
	Grenada	10%	10%
	Sudan	10%	10%
	Turks and Caicos Islands	10%	10%
	Aruba	10%	10%
	Montenegro	10%	10%
	Saint Helena	10%	10%
	Kyrgyzstan	10%	10%
	Yemen	10%	10%
	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	10%	10%
	Niger	10%	10%
	Saint Lucia	10%	10%
	Nauru	30%	10%
	Equatorial Guinea	13%	10%
	Iran	10%	10%
	Libya	31%	10%
	Samoa	10%	10%
	Guinea	10%	10%
	Timor-Leste	10%	10%
	Montserrat	10%	10%
	Chad	13%	10%
	Mali	10%	10%
	Maldives	10%	10%
	Tajikistan	10%	10%
	Cabo Verde	10%	10%
	Burundi	10%	10%
	Guadeloupe	10%	10%
	Bhutan	10%	10%
	Martinique	10%	10%
	Tonga	10%	10%
	Mauritania	10%	10%
	Dominica	10%	10%
	Micronesia	10%	10%
	Gambia	10%	10%
	French Guiana	10%	10%
	Christmas Island	10%	10%
	Andorra	10%	10%
	Central African Republic	10%	10%
	Solomon Islands	10%	10%
	Mayotte	10%	10%
	Anguilla	10%	10%
	Cocos (Keeling) Islands	10%	10%
	Eritrea	10%	10%
	Cook Islands	10%	10%
	South Sudan	10%	10%
	Comoros	10%	10%
	Kiribati	10%	10%
	São Tomé and Príncipe	10%	10%
	Norfolk Island	10%	10%
	Gibraltar	10%	10%
	Tuvalu	10%	10%
	British Indian Ocean Territory	10%	10%
	Tokelau	10%	10%
	Guinea-Bissau	10%	10%
	Svalbard and Jan Mayen	10%	10%
	Heard and McDonald Islands	10%	10%
	Réunion	10%	10%