BANGKOK, April 5, (AP): China announced Friday that it will impose a 34% tax on all US imports next week, part of a flurry of retaliatory measures to US President Donald Trump’s new tariffs that delivered the strongest response yet from Beijing to the American leader's trade war. The tariffs taking effect Thursday match the rate that Trump this week ordered imposed on Chinese products flowing into the United States.

In February and March, Trump slapped two rounds of 10% tariffs on Chinese goods, citing allegations of Beijing's role in the fentanyl crisis. The US stock market plunged Friday following China’s retaliatory moves. They include more export controls on rare earth minerals, which are critical for various technologies, and a lawsuit at the World Trade Organization over what Trump has dubbed reciprocal tariffs.

China also suspended imports of sorghum, poultry and bonemeal from six U.S. companies, added 27 firms to lists of companies facing trade restrictions, and launched an anti-monopoly investigation into DuPont China Group Co., a subsidiary of the multinational chemical giant. Trump posted Friday on Truth Social: "CHINA PLAYED IT WRONG, THEY PANICKED - THE ONE THING THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO DO.” Yet he also indicated he could still negotiate with China on the sale of TikTok even after Beijing pressed pause on a deal following the new tariffs.

On Friday, he extended the deadline for the social media app to divest from its Chinese parent company, per a federal law, for another 75 days. "We hope to continue working in Good Faith with China, who I understand are not very happy about our Reciprocal Tariffs,” Trump posted on his social media site. "We look forward to working with TikTok and China to close the Deal.”

Beijing’s response is "notably less restrained” than during the recent two rounds of 10% tariffs on Chinese goods, and that "likely reflects the Chinese leadership’s diminished hopes for a trade deal with the US, at least in the short term,” wrote Gabriel Wildau, managing director of the consultancy Teneo. He said Beijing's tough response could trigger further escalation, with no sign that Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump might meet soon or get on the phone to ease the tensions. If China’s previous responses were scalpels, this time it drew a sword, said Craig Singleton, senior China fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank.